Lost and Found

2010-06-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hello again from Spain to all our lovely readers.

Things have been great as usual for the past few days. We have now made our way to Alicante from the town of Polop and our stay with Anna.

It really was such a lovely time to get to just relax and enjoy our time in Spain a bit without having to worry about where to go next.

Anna's house was just so calming and nice to kick back in. It helped that we rented a car so that we could get around, and after a bit on the road I felt right at home.

The weather cooperated as well which allowed us to get some quality sun time by the pool as well as to go to Aqualandia for a day of fun and sun at the water slides! We definitely had a blast at the water park, but our bodies are paying for it today! Every muscle is so sore! But it was great, and we managed NOT to get burned which is more than I can say for the whole of England which happened to be at the park that day too ;)

We even managed to make paella from scratch, but that was quite the story! The day we set out to make it the next door neighbours were having a birthday party for one of the little boys, and a nice man named Olaf was cooking beside us. After starting our paella on the bbq to have an even heat, the heat just wasn't strong enough. We were stressing a bit and Olaf leaned over and asked if we wanted any advice on making paella as he had made it several times before getting it right! Long story short, he helped us make the paella but we had to transfer it to his bbq because he had a lot more heat! Needless to say, it took over 2 hours to make, but it was delicious and we got to meet a very funny German living in Spain. Thanks Olaf!

Last night, Anna took us out for just an awesome dinner at a place called simply "Wok", and it was delicious! We hadn't had Chinese food for a while and this place delivered to the max. We all stuffed ourselves and ended up vegging on the couch for the rest of the night!

Our stay in Polop was so wonderful and the best way to almost end off a great trip!!

But like all good things our time in Polop ended when we drove to the Airport this morning to drop off our car and head into Alicante for the last stop in our trip (well, aside for going back to London for one night :) Fortunately enough though Anna will be heading to Vancouver in a few weeks time so we won't have a chance to miss her too too much.

What an amazing stay she had made for us though.. I can totally see where Matt gets his amazing flare for hosting. Those Sheps I tell ya, gotta love em!!!

So now that we're in Alicante we took some time to view the streets and by some miracle of a chance I (vlad) found a whole swath of cool clothes, and so begrudgingly I decided to dip into the funds to grab a buncha new threads. ( i got great deals though so :P) Alicante seems like a nice town with enough to do and cool places to eat. We'll be heading to the beach tomorrow since its giving a high of 31c on the forecast. We should definitely take the last opportunity to get in some last minute tanning before we head off to overcast Vancouver!! Hopefully we can bring some beautiful Mediterranean weather with us home which is SO soon!

Hope everyone is doing great, cant wait to catch up with you all!

Vlad hasn't really taken much in the way of photos for the last week, so we dont have much to post :( Hopefully the words will suffice

Mia & Vlad

2010-06-24T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hello loyal readers!

A small update since not much exciting has happened in the last couple of days.
We left lovely Barcelona and found our way to Valencia via train. We shacked up in a very cozy and modern aparthotel with another kitchenette and lovely amenties. The bed was a bit small for a 6'3 Croatian man but other than that it was just awesome!

Really though, after seeing Barcelona and doing it up and seeing the majority of the city Valencia didn't have all that much to offer truth be told. It was a nice city definitely, but nowhere near as grandiose and clean as Barcelona was.
Add onto that that Mia and I were super tuckered after our days in Barcelona that it made us quite lazy. We only ended up spending a short amount of time in the city but we got to see a bit of it since we rented bikes once more. Definitely no Amsterdam though!

And so we left Valencia this morning and I am now happy to report that we've met up Anna after making the treck down to Alicante (well, not all the way down)
We got to the Benidorm bus station at 5:30 sharp and Anna was there within a few minutes to meet us. How happy were we to see a face we recognized after this long a trip!! We've been all smiles since then as we drove up to the small town of Polop and up to Anna's beautiful home.
Its in a lovely little neighborhood on the hill which overlooks the Polop town as well as the rolling country side. What a lovely view and nice quiet and serene area.
We got settled and before we knew it we were sitting down for a wonderful dinner. Anna made us an immensely delicious Chicken Moussaka with salad and a champagney type drink called Cava (like Champagne, but nice and sweet) which was just divine. The only thing better than the food was the conversation and the company and as I type Anna is showing Maria photos of her time in South Africa.

Needless to say this is just what the doctor ordered for us after such a long haul. We're contemplating renting a scooter of some sort but haven't decided yet. We'll probably just play it by ear since at this point we're pretty happy just relaxing away the rest of the trip until we fly out from Alicante on the 3rd.

Only 9 days left until we return!! Its hard to believe that the time is upon us but when Mia and I talk now we can't believe just how far we've come.. all the way from Manchester through England, flew to Amsterdam, went through the Netherlands, travelled through Belgium, travelled through France, and now through Spain. Whew!

Anyway, you're now up to date with us.. Big hugs and kisses from Anna Mia and Myself in Polop Spain!

XOX

2010-06-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hello again everyone

Its time for another update before we sadly have to move on once again.
The days seem to be flying away before our eyes and its like as soon as we get even the slightest bit comfortable with our surroundings its time for us to move on and go get lost all over again. ... how fun!

So I'll let you all guess what kinda time Maria and I had here in Barcelona. Think: complete opposite of crappy...

The food was intriguing and delicious, the weather was completely perfect, and the architecture immaculate and breathtaking.
I couldn't say enough good things about this place if I tried.
We'll have been here 4 days and we still feel like we could have stayed another couple nights, but oh well.. just means we'll have to come back and pick up where we leave off tomorrow.

We'll now on route to Valencia tomorrow and we're getting ever closer to our final week abroad. This trip has been so amazing thus far, and though part of me is excited to get home and get back to my real life, there is just something that is constantly pulling at me to keep going, no matter how much I miss home or how much my feet ache.
We're definitely overjoyed to be here in Spain though and it really is the perfect place to finish up our western european swing. The weather is proving to be just what we needed as will be the time spent on the beach in Alicante.

And with that here are just a few shots (and I mean a few.. I must have taken over 300 photos here in Barcelona alone)

Will be back once we have more to report, most likely in Alicante.

Love you all :)
Mia & Vlads

so, top to bottom

1) Placa Reial

2) Mia and I in front of the Arc de Tromphe (yes there is one in Spain too!)

3) Shot of the front facade of La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona's most prominent cathedral

4) taken in a makeshift town called Poble Esanyol

5) Stairwell in the Gaudi masterpiece Casa Batillo

6) taken in the Casa Asia

2010-06-18T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hello blog fans, its time for another post :)

What's been up you ask? Well I'm happy to report that my lovely wife and I have made it to Barcelona Spain! Woohoo!!!!

As mentioned in our last post, we hung out in Aix en Provence for a couple days and it was quite lovely, aside from the random deluge of rain (which actually caused some very real and damaging flooding in Avignon).

The first day we spent walking around town and seeing the sights, which were all really beautiful, and then on the second day we saw... well, nothing. We ended up spending the entire day, aside for a short quest for a baguette for supper, in our room just killing time and lazying it up. Moms, you'd have been so proud.

And so this morning we packed it up again and took a bus out to the Marseille Airport where we got on our flight and flew into Barcelona.

We made it great and found our way into the city where we grabbed a train in the metro and found way to our hotel. We are going to be staying four nights here and the hotel I managed to get us is simply outstanding. Decent price for a very posh and modern place in a nice quiet but easily accessible location. This is gonna be an awesome four nights!

Without wasting any time Mia and I checked in, lounged for a bit and then found our way into the city for dinner.

Not knowing what to expect, Mia took us to a "cerveseria" for some tapas, and oh my goodness what a meal.

On the menu was a wonderful assortment of stuff.. four cheese melted on crusty bread, veil tenderloin, peanut crusted camembert cheese with raspberry jam, fresh calamari, grilled garlic mushrooms and asparagus, and mini baguettes with cheese and fried pork tenderloin.. washed down with a nice cold pitcher of beautiful vibrant sangria..

oh my god

it was sensationalllllllllll

As far as first impressions go, the food was the kind of start we were hoping for. Pricey though it was, the food was some of the best we've had yet.

If that wasn't enough to make our spirits soar, the beauty and energy of the city really has us in its grips.

Mia has been asking me all along what place has so far been my favorite, and up until yesterday I could not answer as I didn't have any favorites,,well after only having been in this city 6 hours I can say its my favorite, and I've not even seen barely any of it!

All I will say is I'm so thrilled to be here right now and just can't wait to see more. I'll let the photos say the rest.

Now here's Mia!

............................................

WOW... I had no idea what Barcelona was going to be like, but it has definitely blown our minds away! This city is so full of beauty, vibrancy, character and life. It feels like it breathes, if that makes any sense. It is gorgeous, and I'm so glad that we're here :)

Tomorrow will be filled with lots of sightseeing, and we have lots on the agenda for the next 3 days. Aside from wandering the streets and being immersed with all of the beautiful architecture, (which is so breathtaking, especially all of the Gaudi buildings which are remarkable beyond words) we are going to be visiting all the cool things we possibly can, eating as much as we can and on the last day doing some shopping and sending it home straight away since our bags are full to the brim already!

Enjoy the photos everyone. Molt amor de Barthalona! (means lots of love from Barcelona with the accent of course in Catalan, the other language besides Spanish that most people speak here:)

Mia and Vlad

PS: watching England playing Algeria at the moment, and huh? Algeria took them to a scoreless game in stoppage time? yikes..

1) Shot in a special park in Aix.. loverly day for my camera and I :)

2) Our Barcelona Hotel, yknow, to prove I wasn't making things up.

3) Tower on a random building downtown Barcelona

4) the topmost part of the Casa Batllo, one of the fascinating works by Gaudi

5) and another of Gauid's works, this one has been turned into more of a museum.

2010-06-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Evening everyone! (daytime for you all naturally)

Glad to be back and posting once again after a couple days off..
quite literally in fact. It was almost like Mia and I took a couple days off! No camera taking photos, no travelling back and forth between places, no cooking or doing dishes in an apart hotel, no grocery shopping and no sight seeing..
Just two days of sun, pool, food and birds chirping!

We initially thought that we would leave Nice and find our way to St Tropez, but what ended up happening is that the hotel we had booked was in Ste. Maxime, which is actually across the bay from St Tropez.. little did we know that Ste. Maxime was a shorter distance which meant less travel time to and from there and yet was just a beautiful.
Our only real issue was that the hotel we were staying at, though lovely, was a bit out of the way.. in that we needed to walk a good 10-15 minutes to get to the town. This wouldn't necessarily had been an issue, but because of the complete lack of public transit, taxis, or even other places to eat around our hotel, we were pretty much obligated to make that walk just to go and get food! This doesn't sit all that well when hunger interrupts your relaxation plans, but with some clever planning we ended up making it work somehow.

What a beautiful little area it was though. Lush green hills sloping right down to the sandy beaches and ocean. The weather was decent for the two days we spent there, and because our hotel had a very nice pool, we totally took advantage and grabbed some rays poolside.
We did manage as well to find some really nice meals within the small town which definitely made the stay that much better.

What totally made us upset though is just how crap/pathetic/inefficient/worthless/crap the overall bus and rail connectivity is in this country. I mean we left this morning at 9am to be at the bust stop by 9:30. The bus arrives 35 minutes late ( by then we thought we were hooped for real) and takes us over an hour to get to the St Raphael train station (had to go back since there are no connections from Maxime or Tropez).
Finally we reach the train terminal, and oops, no trains going to Aix en Provence for 2 hours. Great.
So we wait some more. Finally the train comes and we hop on and then at Marseille we need to transfer again! No direct trains so then we wait another 35 minutes for THAT train.
Point being that we left at 9am this morning and had arrived at our destination, maybe some-odd 150km away only, at around 4pm. Yes, I kid you not. A whole day of travel just to barely go any distance at all.

Eeeeh.. anyway, we're now in Aix en Provence which is a smaller town about 35km outside of Marseille. Initially we wanted to stay in Marseille for a couple nights but after much looking there was absolutely NO decent accomodation anywhere to be had within the primary city limits, and so rather than spend our last days in France there with all the other tourists, we'd take some more time out off the beaten path. Which is fine by us as it would seem that this cute little place has more than enough to keep us busy for a couple more days.
Hopefully the weather will get better though as today was just pouring all day. Luckily enough we arrived at our Hotel no later today because a half hour after we checked in there was a downpour outside that would have soaked us through and through. Somebody up there is definitely lookin out for us I tell ya

So for our final days here in France (kinda good riddance) we're going to try and fit in a bit of everything..culture, relaxation and some good home cooking. Its SO nice to be able to cook in your room.. I love that Mia and I can grab some groceries and have breakfasts and dinner together.. its just so fun!

I have to admit though the reality of our upcoming time in Spain is exciting indeed. Of course, believe it or not, but the idea of coming home to Vancouver is getting us kinda excited as well! Its always nice to come home after a long hiatus after all right?

So as I mentioned there was not much in the way of photos taken in the last couple days, but I will leave you all with a couple while we were still in Nice/Monaco. I promised Zsa a couple photos from Monaco and so I have to deliver!

Much love to all the readers.. we love to read your comments and feel very special that you guys take the time to let us know you're out there, even when you're all so busy.

Love Mia and Vlad

(as always, clicky for larger)
1st) the city of Monaco in all its glory :) Taken from the prince's castle.
2nd) The Monte Carlo Casino! We would have gone in, but its strictly black tie only. Shoot, forgot to pack my suit :(
3rd) Another shot of the city with our lovely model Maria
4th) Shot taken while at the Monaco aquarium which was fantastic..
5) Shot of me standing at "Le Chateau" which was one of the older sites in Nice (quite a walk up, but oh so worth it)
6th) Shot of the Beaches in Nice outstretched from Le Chateau

2010-06-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

Well we've made it to the Cote D'Azure, and today is a very windy day in Nice. Still beautiful though! We managed to get up to the rooftop pool and squeeze in a few hours of sunbathing already! We did have to anchor down everything because it would have blown away. I would have blown away if I was only a few pounds lighter :)

Before we got here though we were first in Epernay. It is a small city that houses some of the largest names in champagne, like Moet & Chandon which makes Dom Perignon, and we went down into the caves for a tour and a tasting. It was really incredible. I had no idea how champagne was even made. Originally, I thought there was some special bacteria that grew only in the caves of the Champagne region but that is not the case. They actually select some of the best wines, and age them with sugar and yeast for at least 4 years, and up to 25 years! We got to see the house that Napolean Bonparte stayed at every year to drink the champagnes produced. They even have his hat! (we didn't get to see it) You can visit www.moet.com to understand and learn more. It was pretty cool. The amount of champagne they house in those caves is incredible! Millions upon millions of Euro's worth. They even have the barrel of port wine that was given to Moet from Napolean from the 12th century! That was pretty amazing. Unfortunately we kind of messed up because I assumed we could get to Lyon from Epernay, but in fact we ended up having to transfer BACK at Paris so that was definitely not fun.

But we ended up safe and easily enough in Lyon. Lyon itself was really really lovely.The old town is listed as a UNESCO Old Town, and it was easy to see why. Cobblestoned roads, random alleyways that led into beautiful courtyards, it was GREAT! Unfortunately it had rained for the first part of our day in the city,but we took refuge in the neatest little miniature museum. Matt, you would have LOVED it! It had recreations of every situation you could imagine! They even had within that museum, an exhibit of film, where they had props used in classic Hollywood movies like "V for Vendetta" (they had V's mask) and the gun from "The Bourne Identity". Very cool museum. To have a peek of your own mini world check out their website. http://www.mimlyon.com/# .

Later in the afternoon, the clouds parted and we had great weather to go and view the amazing ( and I mean amazing) Roman cathedral that sat on top of the Old Town. It was such a glorious display of beauty. Every little detail was taken into account. The mosaics speckled with gold, the ceiling foiled in gold everywhere, the marble carvings, it was magnificent and took our breath away!

So we have moved on here to Nice. Cute enough town, but very typical touristy coastal town, which is exactly what we are looking for! Just a chance to relax by the water. Tomorrow we are going to Monaco (YES Zsa Zsa, Monaco!) for the day, and we are both very excited about it. I think I may do my makeup, I don't want to look like too much of a hobo for all the wealthy people who live there! :D

Hope everyone on the wet - ahem, I mean West Coast is doing okay. (I'm sorry for your poopy weather, hopefully when we come back we will bring the brilliant Mediterranean weather with us!)

PS. French people are annoying, and Italian people are the most annoying. Just for reference :) But Vlad is the least annoying out of everyone in Europe. And no, we haven't killed each other yet!

Love Mia and Vlad

EDIT: I have a quick question for you all..

Imagine that you are sitting outside eating a Haagen Daas sundae.. an expensive Haagen Daas sundae, errr lets say in Nice, and a bird happens to drop number 2 right into it from a height of what would appear to be 40 -60 feet up with a heavy wind presence and a sundae diameter of no more than 2 inches. With this information would there be any way to figure out the odds of this happening? ?

Just curious... carry on.

(yes, this seriously happened)

2010-06-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hey hey!

Hello again for another update. Its been a while and we've been keeping plenty busy but still doing alright.

We ended up spending the last week in the grande city of Paris.. 5 nights in total and to tell the outright truth it was a mixed bag for us. There were many great things and some not so great things about the city.. I'm actually quite surprised by it all. Maybe it was that we had a preconcieved and "romantic" assumption of how it would be? Who knows?

Not to say that the city isn't romantic.. there are many things that make it so. the monuments are nothing short of breathtaking.. all just amazing in their own right and really aweinspiring. The history of the city and all that is wonderful and interesting. I imagine that if you were to stay in a nice 4-5 star hotel, take tours of the city on your own private boat and had your own personal chef whip up meals for you by candlelight it would be the most romantic city ever and could indeed live up to all the hype .. unfortunately for people like us who are backpacking, who don't know the language all that well, who can't afford a nice hotel to stay in, and who require the use of the metro or our feet to get around, its a far cry from being "romantic".

In fact its just the opposite in some cases! I was shocked at several things, particularily the smells you get walking down some streets.. smells of garbage, sewage, general gross odors, and this continues from time to time walking through the metro and rer stations.. not the nicest and certainly not romantic.
Also, when half the people you meet, servants, shop keepers, clerks etc, are outright snobby and rude, it too makes it a less than romantic experience.

Add to this the absolute joke that the prices are and it quickly makes your experience here as memorable as a bland carbonara with a 15 euro price tag. Oh, and did you know that it cheaper to buy a coffee than it is for just a bottle of water? Not by much though.. getting any drink, soft drink, water, or coffee in any cafe here is no less than 3 euro on average. Pretty dismal when you can get a half a pint of any kind of beer in London for a pound and a half to 2 pound.

Fortunately for our time in Paris we stayed in a room in the home of a lovely older French Madame. The room wasn't anything special but we were fed fresh french pastries each morning for breakfast and she definitely helped us with our French speaking . I can't beleive how much I forgot since French 12!

The weather has held out for us as well and yesterday was the hottest day yet hitting a solid 28c. We ended up spending it in the park and taking it all in which was nice.

In all we ended up seeing all of the big names like the tour eiffel, louvre, notre dame and arch de triomphe. We also were able to go check out the catacombes which were crazy and creepy as well as walk down the crowded and busy champs-elysse.

So to sum it all up, Paris was good, but in no way great. If only people were nicer in general, the food was better and there was more variety, and the city wasn't extortionate with its prices I think it would have made our stay far more pleasant. So now we have made our way to Epernay which is in Champagne country.. a little out of the way but now we had noticed that we need to take the train all the way back to Paris to get down to Lyon which is our next destination.. so thats a bit of a bummer. Though while here we did get to do and see the home of Moet & Chandon and even did a tour of their wine cellars which were amazing! We got to see thounsands of handstacked bottles aging and some had been there for years. Very very cool indeed!

But most importantly we're getting closer and closer to the south coast which we are getting ready for. Its time for some fun in the sun for these road warriors!

And so with that I will love you and leave you.. but not without some cool new photos :)

XOXO from France!

Love Mia and Vlad

So in no particular order:

1) A stainglass window in the Notre Dame Cathedral
2) A shot of some of the statues housed in the Louvre
3) Another shot of the Louvre.. this room is called the Apollo Room
4) A long distance shot of the main building of Parliament in Paris
5) Yours truly on a beautiful Paris night just admiring the tour eiffel

2010-05-31T01:02:00.000-07:00

Good Morning everyone!

Sorry for the no posting for a couple days. Usually when you book a hotel room and it says "free wifi in every room" it would give you the impression that you would get wifi..right? obviously some of the hotels we've been staying at think otherwise since in this case wifi is only really connectable on the 1st floor of the hotel. Awesome!

Anyway, we are just waking up from a not so great sleep on a rather uncomfortable bed in Antwerp, but besides this have nothing but great things to say about the city! We got to take a sightseeing tour on the bus yesterday to get a feel for the city and learned a bit about it which was really cool.

We also got to eat some splendid dishes and managed to book our train tickets for our upcoming stops to Brussels and then Paris.

We only ended up booking one night in Brussels which at this point seems a bit too fast. So in light of the little time we have we've decided to just take it easy and cosy up in our room and try to figure out some other stuff for our trip, such as where we want to go from Paris (we're toying with the idea of going to Eurodisney... guess who's idea this was!) and also to book our flights home. (which as we are writing you now, this has happened and it will be on July 4th, not as long as we initially expected, but still a long trip none the less!!)

Overall Belgium has been very nice and we've enjoyed our couple days here. If only the weather were better I think we may have enjoyed it a fair bit more, but hey it was only a matter of time before we hit into some not so great weather. At least its still been fairly warm though..

Anyway not much else to report other than tthat we're in Brussles taking it easy and then on to Paris tomorrow which we are SUPER stoked for. We get there on a Thalys highspeed train which can go up to 300km/hr!! Just think how awesome a train like that would be at home. You could get to Calgary from Vancouver in just over 3 hours.. oh Canada, how far behind you are (sing that to the national anthem tune!) Anyway, in Paris we will have use of a kitchen again at the b & b, and as fun as it is to go and eat out all the time, there is always something grand about a fresh home cooked meal!

There is one thing I've really noticed about Europe and that is : You must pay to pee, and for someone like me who has a bladder the size of a mustard seed, this can get pricey!

In fact, you have to pay for everything here. You can't even get tap water at a restaurant. You have to buy a bottle, and when I say bottle, I mean smaller than the size of a coke bottle for 2.75. It is appalling!! You cant use a payphone without a card which costs minimum 5 euro. Ouch.

But besides that it is wonderful, the way of life is different and we can all learn to share our ideas around the world about how to increase everyone's standard of living.

Also, since we've stayed at places where you must share a bathroom, I've realized the most underrated common courtesy is replacing a toilet paper roll. IS IT THAT HARD!?

And with that, here are some photos. Hope everyone is doing well. Miss you all.

Love, Mia and Vlad

So from top to bottom:

First is the New Kierk in Delft (before we came to Belgium) Do you see the top of that tower? We climbed to the top and the view was spectacular! Of course I'm scared of heights (its mia talking) but I did it anyway and it was worth it. VERY scary though :)

Second is inside the clock tower where you can see the bells. Some of the bells are still the original ones from the 14th Century. And to think they lasted over 500 years is pretty amazing.

Third is a shot from the top of the tower overlooking all of Delft. SCARY!(yet magnificent)

Fourth we have some of the delicious Belgian chocolates ..drooool. We purchased a box worth 5 Euro and packed it full of assorted delights. Eating a milk chocolate filled with coconut creme as we speak!

and Fifth a shot of one of the still standing castles in the heart of Antwerp.

2010-05-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hey from Rotterdam!

So we arrived on a really quick hispeed train from Amsterdam which we were sort of sad to say farewell to, but it definitely was time to move on.

Impressions about Amsterdam: Really loved it. It was such an interesting mix of different people from everywhere. The social interactions are so different there because of their tolerance towards so many different things. It is kind of bizarre. But I love how everyone seems so family oriented, and parents seem to really spend time with their children doing things. And the fact that more people ride bikes there then drive is FABULOUS! You can really zip around the city with one tiny little bike!

So after our fiasco with that stupid hotel which is called the "Quentin Arrive" for anyone who is ever thinking of staying there... don't; we made our way to this great room on the other side of the city at a Best Western which ended up being SO comfortable and nice. And our view was so pretty!!

So our time there was great. I would definitely recommend seeing it and riding down the beautiful canal lined streets for yourself. It is wonderful!

Some sights we saw while there were the Anne Frank Huis (house) where the family actually stayed in secret until they were ousted by someone still unknown. It was quite an interesting place to see, it really gave you a feel for what life was like, they blacked out all the windows just how it would have been so long ago.

Another thing we did which was SO interesting was we went to the "House of Bols" The tour was so cool! You could see the original Bols recipe book, smell all flavours of Bols and much more! plus, when you finish the exhibit you get a cocktail made from a pro bartender trained at their world renown bartending school! Plus, we each got a shot of any flavour of bols liqueur or their genever which has like 43% alcohol in it! Needless to say, we got a little tipsy and it was pretty fun!

So now we're in Rotterdam, we thought there would be way more things to do here, but we have already seen the big museum (which was pretty incredible) that housed Monet, Rembrandt, even some Dali and so many other influential and famous artists. It was so great. I think though, the best Gallery was the National Art Gallery in London. And that one was free! So tomorrow we're heading to Delft for an afternoon trip and that should be so neat, hopefully the weather holds for us.

Here's Vlad!

Hey all :)

As my lovely already mentioned we have moved on from the Dam, I certainly enjoyed myself there.. found that it was very relaxing and laid back and that in the time we were there we really had a chance to relax after all the hussle in London.

Honestly, driving bikes around the streets and getting lost with Mia via bicycle is not something I will soon forget. What a great experience that was!

So now we're in Rotterdam and though the city has loads of history you wouldn't see much of it just by going around the city.. I mean, its nice and all, but very non-touristy. Its amazing how in Amsterdam, whether in town or at the train station or wherever, people spoke English really well and most signage is in English as well as other languages, yet you come here to Rotterdam and suddenly everything is just in Dutch 100%! Not that this bothers me, but as a 'tourist' I find that this city doesn't make it particularly easy for people who don't speak the language.

In any event, we're glad to be back on the road and fortunately our place here in Rotterdam, though older, is still quite nice.

Once we leave here we will be in Antwerp for two days and then in Brussels for a day. Many people have told us to go to Bruges but I think that may be a bit out of the way and will just cost us more in travel. Plus I already saw "In Bruges" so technically I've been there already. :)

Too late and to lazy/tired/bored to get out the camera and do the whole picture thing now, but I definitely will next post.

Toodles for now!

2010-05-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

Ola my lovies!

Sorry for the delay in posts.. I bet it seems like we just dropped off the grid, but we're still here!

So to recap the last days' events, we grabbed our flight from London early sunday morning and made it into Amsterdam at abut 10:30AM. The flight was easy on the easyjet and we easily hopped on a train to the town center shortly after arrival to take us down into the main part of the city.

Our accomodation (which I'll touch on later) is very close by to the station and so we made our way and checked in. So far we've had just a splendid time, aside from a couple things.

The city is just beautiful. Maria has definitely found her favourite place on our excursion thus far, and I feel like its definitely gotta hold on me as well. The weather on all accounts has been wonderful and only this morning does it feel like its cooling down a bit, though with the sun still shining away! Whats funny though is that we're here now 2 1/2 days we haven't even really taken in many museums or sights.. we've been too busy enjoying the streets and walking around the canals at night. We even went to see a screening of Robin Hood in this glorious old theatre in the south part of town.. comfiest chairs EVER

Though where we are staying is very busy noisewise, after a certain time of night it quietens down a lot and we've been able to at least sleep. Unfortunately though the place that we had booked for here in Amsterdam for four nights is pretty much a dive. 50 euro a night doesn't get you much in this city I guess because this place is not the best. The room is too small and cramped and the bed is just awful. So last night we decided to just suck it up and move because in a way its ruining an otherwise wonderful time in the city for us. And so we're going to be leaving today after yesterday having a bit of an incident.

This place demands you leave your room key at the front desk and they supposedly have someone there at all times. Well we left our room key and when we came back from being out for the afternoon we asked for the key and the girl at the front desk couldn't find it. Okay... so she gives us another key to use to get in. We come upstairs to find our key in the door and the door open... ???? Huh? We stormed inside to find all our stuff still where we left it, and fortunately nothing was stolen or broken. Needless to say this was enough for me, so we went back downstairs to voice our displeasure. Really, I'll gladly pay extra for a room where this kinda stuff doesn't happen and so I'll be glad to leave asap.

Anyway, what else can I say? The food has been great and we've been eating well.. Mia has had some trouble with her stomach lately though and I had a bit of trouble last night as well (I think it was the Jerk Chicken) but besides that we've both been good and have been enjoying a more relaxing mindset while here in the Dam.

I want to give a very big Happy Birthday call out to my big Papa Stan the man.. Have a great birthday pops! Hope you had fun camping and that you caught a lotta fish!

And let me also apologise to anyone expecting phone calls from us while here.. we cant seem to find a payphone anywhere! All that is available is junky voip and they charge bundles for it, so we may need to wait until we leave the city to make any calls. Weird huh?

So today will consist of packing up and moving to our new home for the next two nights and then maybe renting a couple bikes and see more of the city that way. Then on Thursday morning we will be heading to Rotterdam to stay for a couple nights also.

Hope all of you are doing well and thanks to all who commented on prior posts, we love hearing from you guys!!

And of course no post would be complete without some scenes..

much love xoxox

Vlad and Mia

2010-05-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Wanted to drop back in and say hi before Mia and I depart to Amsterdam early in the morn. Our flight is at 8am but we want to make sure that we get to Luton airport (that's pronounced Loo-tawn for those that don't know:D ) and so we're giving ourselves lots of time and going early so that there is NO chance of us missing the flight or flubbing up and getting on the wrong bus etc.

Today and yesterday were both just awesome. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, sunny and warm and I was even rockin' the shorts and shades today. We went all over (even made it to Shepherd's Market in Mayfair) during our stroll around Buckingham Palace.

We also were able to catch the other major sights like Big Ben and Westminster Abbey a well as Westminster Cathedral which are all just beautiful. We took strolls through the British Museum as well as the National Gallery. We REALLY loved the artwork in the National gallery especially.

I'm a bit sad that we didn't have the time to find our way out to Oxford, but honestly in a way it just leaves more reasons for us to come back, and that can never be a bad thing.

Anyway, I'll let Mia take this one home.. see you guys in the Dam :D

***

So the highlights for me were definitely the National Gallery and the Tower of London, not necessarily in that order. The paintings we saw in the gallery were sooo...spectacular. They were so inspiring the way the artists used colour and texture. How the paintings could evoke such a feeling inside. We were there for about 2 hours, but one could spend days and days and not even get to really get to know all the paintings. I even saw people in there with sketch pads and charcoals. I would totally do that if I lived here.

London has been really awesome. So incredibly easy to get around and it really is a melting pot of every different country. Much more than Vancouver is. And it doesn't lack its share of wierdos that's for sure!! But it is a lovely place to come and visit and there is so much to see and do. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a really cool vacay! Although it was awesome, I am ready to move on. A change of scenery will be nice.

Vlad and I have also been throwing around serious ideas of going to see Luxembourg and Zurich too!! It is all so close and we will be making our way south so we are figuring, why not?

Hope everyone is doing well. Lots of love from us! It may be a few days before we post more pictures because the next place were staying at doesn't have wi-fi, so enjoy these next ones!

Love mia and vlad

2010-05-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Sup all..

You know we're gonna keep these updates coming fast and furious.. much like the London streets and underground! Gotta stay on your toes in this city lemme tell ya.

I've wanted to come here for years.. ultimately I had only a slight idea of what it really is like here, and to finally be here, to wake up and walk to the tube and jump to anywhere in the city you like and just explore is something that I would wish anyone out there to go and do. The feeling that I got walking out of that tube today at Tower Hill and walking down to the tower of London and first see tower bridge was inexplicable. It really is moments like those that make all the miles and hours travelled worth it.

There definitely is something about London. I feel that there is such a hugeness about it all.. the endless corridores, streets and alleys.. the uniqueness of its architechture, history and people.. and the fashion my GOD the fashion.

It would seem I could just go on and on about it, but this stuff is best just experienced since my words will never paint even a mediocre picture.

Today was great though. The weather nice, the city abuzz and so much to see.

We started off going to Tower Hill station and doing Tower of London. We did the touristy thing and saw the crown jewels and walked the towers. Very interesting to see all the history there.

We then grabbed a delightful lunch at Wagamama and then walked over the tower bridge with left me utterly breathless. I easily snapped 40 shots of it alone..

We then proceeded to walk down the bank of the river until we got to a tucked away little cathedral.. can't remember the name now.. Shawbank? anyway.. beautiful church and supposedly one of the oldest in England.

Afterward we kept walking until we reached the Millenium bridge and the Tate Modern. We perused the art and by the end of one floor our feet on the concrete were starting to give out on us (we've been abusing our legs and feet you see) and so we decided to skip out, grab some goodies from costcutters (more like costgougers) and head home to make dinner.

And let me just say, to be able to stay in our own apartment and have access to a kitchen to make dinner in THIS city?? BLESSING!!!

The day escaped us again and it feels like a blur, but I guess when you only have 3 days you gotta go full tilt. It will be worth it in the long run.. the long run of course being that we will eventually end up on a beach somewhere and able to relax then.

Anyway, its time to crash, so for now we be out..but of course, I have to leave you all with at least a bit of eyecandy.. enjoy! Toodles :)

2010-05-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

So we have arrived in London, our final British destination :) BOY was it ever a bit of a nightmare to arrive here. More on that later...

Having time in Leeds with my friend Maria was really amazing. Last time we saw her was about 4 years ago (the last time we were in Europe) and it was so great to see a friendly face waiting for us at the train station. We made a delicious greek dinner complete with some homemade tzaziki and a bottle of wine. So awesome. Thanks Maria, you are the best!!!

Then we moved onto York.

York was so beautiful. It is a definite must see if you are ever in the area. All of the streets are so beautiful with hoardes of rowhomes and little boutique shops that line midieval roads. And in York there is the most visited streets in Europe called "Shambles". It is absolutely breathtaking. The buildings are so close together that they almost touch and it is what you would see in a cool 13th century video game or something except it was REAL!

And the Minster (its like a cathedral) was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was so... fill in every word you would use to describe amazing... It really took our breath away. And of course the photos dont do it justice as with all immense things in the world. You just have to come and experience it for yourself!

So getting here to London was quite the adventure. By the way, we hate you rail station for making the fact that you must watch the trains like a hawk in order to get things straight. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHAadfadfaefraew

So we were supposed to get on a train to go to London, but instead we got on a train that was coming at the exact same time and wasnt CLEARLY marked to begin with... and ended up going to Scarborough (not Ontario!) instead of London. So we had to get off at the next stop. Retake the train back to York and get onto the train to London. So we did. Except this train wasnt the Grand Central train (HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KNOW??!) which was marked in a small area on the bottom of the ticket... long story short, we ended up on a different company train which charged us double the price of one ticket. London better be worth it ;)

And while we're in London we decided to use crashpadder.com. It is where people put up rooms in their homes for rent for the night and instead of paying 60 pounds per night for a hostel, we get pretty much a whole house for 30! The guy is really nice and it turns out he's going away for the weekend, so we get the whole 1 bedroom apartment right near the tube to ourselves! Its pretty awesome.

So I guess that makes up for the money we lost on the whole train fiasco.

AAAANYWAY... we're pooped in London, and excited to experience what the city has to offer!

Keep the comments coming, we check every time we have wireless access!

Much love from the two lovebirds on vacation. If you're wondering, we haven't killed eachother just yet. We still have almost 2 months left!

couple shots:

2010-05-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

'Nother update! OMG!! Already? :D

So Mia and I found our way to Leeds today and met up with Mia's friend Maria who goes to school here.. The gals are cookin up some greek treats for dinner as I type and I figured I'd rummage through the first shots from Manchester.

Care to see some teasers? (clicky for large)

Some shots of the GORGEOUS Machester Cathedral followed by a shot of a building in city center, ended nicely with a shot of my lovely wife posting in the pob.. err I mean pub.

Itinerary is as follows:

Grab a bus to York tomorrow morning and stay overnight in a quaint B&B

In the morning grab a train to London

Sunday the 23rd grab a flight to Amsterdam!

Will update as time (and wifi) permits!

XOX

2010-05-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

Top of the morning to you all!!

So we have arrived here in Manchester safe and sound. The flight was really good. It went by super fast, and I even got an hour of sleep. Vlad didnt sleep at all and his 'awakeness' stamina is incredible! We found our way to the outsirts of Manchester to a place called Altrincham (pronunced Altringham for some wierd reason, perhaps Matt you can shed some light on this) and we slept for a few hours so we wouldn't be so dead to the world.

So far England has been pretty amazing. With every corner you turn, photo opportunities just pop up! We were walking to the hotel yesterday and the sun was beaming through the green trees with fluffs flying around in the air and a church was in the background. It was pretty magical :)

So today we are in the city of Manchester and it has been great. We saw an AMAZING gothic cathedral and now we are just sitting in a "pob" as they call it having a pint. (well vlad is anyway)

Off to the rest of the town and tomorrow off to visit my friend Maria from Greece who is going to University of Leeds.

Miss everyone, but not all that much ;)

xo mia

Now heres Vlad...

MMMMMMMM pint of cold carlsberg (I have to after always seeing the carlsberg commercials during World Cup time :D) in my hands sitting in a delightful english pub..what could be better?

Our trip has been very successful thus far, and its only really been day 2. Day 1 was a day of rest indeed as we needed to sleep off the postflight jitters, and we definitely did just that.
Weirdly enough though we managed to pull ourselves out of our slumbers and walk towards the center of town for an early dinner yesterday.. I had found it after looking at some reviews and so decided finally on a restaurant called "the fat loaf". I admit not the most appetizing of titles, but I would have to say it was one of the best meals I could have hoped for.
I had a strip steak and maria had herself a mushroom pie (kinda like a chicken pot pie). The meal was immensely delicious and we immediately knew we were in for a great trip full of incredible food, amazing architecture and memorable moments.

Today we spent here in Manchester and just the cathedral alone made my jaw drop.. SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! It truly is a photog's dream this place with architecture so old and ornate. I could spend all day taking different angles in different light... I'm getting exasperated just thinking about it!

So tomorrow we head to Leeds and then onto York for a day. Once done there we will find ourselves in Oxford which my camera is quite excited for, and then onto London before we fly to Amsterdam.

I would love to regail you all with more but alas this trip has just begun, so you will have to wait just like we will until we uncover more of this journey.

Until then, Cheers!!

(BTW, I LOVE how British people instead of saying the typical Hi or Hello just say "you alright?" :D I noticed Matt do this once in a while, but EVERYone here says it.. HAH!)

2010-05-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hello all who wish to follow!!

Welcome to the Europe chapter of our blog. Hope you enjoy the ride!!

More to come!

love mia and vlad

2008-03-16T13:37:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!

So this post is a very special one.. mainly because we have finnnnnnaaallllly moved back home to Beautiful BC, and we could NOT be happier. We were feeling pretty stale in Calgary, and once we made the decision to go, there was no stopping us.

Lots of great stuff has gone down for Maria and I within the last little while. We were fortunate enough to have a great weekend for a drive down from Cowtown home with clear roads and some sun even! Not only that, but coming home in a brand spanking new Toyota Yaris certainly helps to get us on the right path. (Thanks Yiannis!!!!!!!!!)

With that, we found a place here very quickly, and did a lot of work painting, shopping for furnishings, decorating, and mostly moving out lives. We found a really nice two bedroom that is like brand new, with lots of space, new appliances, and very nice landlords. I've taken photos for you all to see!

Here is one side of the living room. As you can see, my gear has rightfully claimed this side :D

Our lovely little kitchen..

Our bathroom..

Mia's Office...

And our room.. complete with Cat!

Hope you all approve :) It was a lot of work but in the end totally paid off. We're very delighted with how everything turned out and are proud of how well we did. We're totally looking forward to having all you family and friends over now!!!

With that, I bid to you all a good day. You'll be hearing from us soon enough! Now we just need jobs :P

2008-01-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

Goodmorning everyone. (or those who are reading still!!)

Hope everyone is keeping well. We are pleased to announce that we have picked a moving date for when were coming home!!! February 23rd (weather permitting) is when we are coming back to home sweet home. We have gone through the house and gathered as much as we can to put into boxes, Ive told my work Im leaving, and things are coming along nicely. The crappy part is having to drive... ugh. But oh well, what do you do?

In other news, as you all know, Vlad and I are "officially" engaged. We got the ring made and Vlad proposed in the sweetest way. I arrived home one night after working out and It began with a treasure hunt! Each poem clue led to another and another and I found my ring in a flower bouquet!! I hadn't seen the ring since we drew it on paper at the jewelry store, and It is ABSOLUTELY beautiful. I love it. We still haven't taken a picture of it (but you will all see it soon!) It fits perfectly on my hand and I love looking at it. And also, something that was very important to me, it is a certified conflict free Canadian diamond mined in the Yukon and cut in Vancouver. (for anyone who has seen or knows about Blood Diamond)

We also bought Vlads wedding band and it looks gorgeous. Its nice and heavy and perfect. And it looks great on him! The only silly thing is that he has to wait for a year and a half till he gets to wear it!!

Other areas in life are doing well too. Toni has moved back from Greece. Its nice to have her back. She unfortunately has decided to go to Mexico for 3 months to work... (crickets and tumbleweed please follow). I dont really know what the reason is for this. She says experience. I say, "WHAT!? You JUST got back..."Anyway, thats a whole can of worms, which I dont even want to open because it just doesn't make any sense, and she's already made her mind up.

Ive also started working out... VERY happy about that. It's now twice a week which will get greater results! I feel great today. I little sore, but great.
Anyway, that's all the news from this end. Just a little over a month now and well be on our way! Love sent to everyone from me and Vlad and Jeema. (who is doing quite well, a bit of a pain in the butt sometimes, but when she cuddles up and puts her face and whiskers in your neck... sooo cute!!!)

2007-12-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

It's that time of year again.. Chrismukah. It sucks because every year it's the same thing. What do I get everyone?! That is the one thing about Christmas that I wish would apply exclusively to children. Its just sad because it's become all about how much one can aquire. If I had it my way, I would ban adult "presents" and just do something great with my family. Like go toboganning, or go for a movie day, or rent a hotel!! (me and vlad are doing that this year) We also bought a new camera together. Im glad we both share the same thoughts... why are we scrambling to get people things that they may not even like, or use? I mean, if its something special that you saw for someone and you wanted to wait for a good time to give it to them, then Christmas is cool. I just think the stress that comes with what to buy someone is not worth it. For anyone who is reading this... I dont want anything. Just love and a big hug. Maybe to go out for dinner, or something that we will remember doing. But the one thing I do love is the dinners. Having everyone together to share the day is just awesome. I wouldnt change that.

This year, for my mom dad and sister, Im getting a photographer to take some portraits of us. Not the sears style, but some cool photojournalistic style stuff. Im sure it will be great.

So if everyone could have their ideal Christmas, with regard to gifts, things you do, food you eat.. What would YOU do?

2007-11-30T10:57:00.001-08:00

I know, its sad but Im posting a link to get an entry to win an Ipod Touch...

Happy Anniversary PriceCanada.com!

2007-10-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!!!

So its back to the grindstone for us after a simply amazing weekend in Vancouver.
For anyone who doesn't know, Maria and I flew into Vancouver on Friday night without anyone knowing (well maybe a couple people. who did a GOOD JOB by the way of keeping it secret!)

We flew in late since it was the only flight we could get and showed up on my parents doorstep in total secrecy!

Since it was late, I phoned my own house and talked with my dad for a moment, mentioning that I had a suprise for him.. at that moment, I knocked on the door and shocked them!

With my parents nicely suprised, we decided to take advantage and pay my Grandparents a visit as well. we went with my parents over there and got them to go inside first. We waiting in the car for a few moments, and then came in and suprised them as well.. yaaaaar!

But obviously the best kept suprise was for none other than my lovely sista and brotha shepards who were celebrating birthdays, and were the main reason why we flew in.

We showed up on the doorstep, and with a swing of the door opening, we saw THIS:

hmmm.. not exactly who we were expecting to see, but it was sweet none the less!...

and not a moment later, we were able to capture this gem:

YEEEEESSSSSSSSS that my friends is the mark of a plan executed to perfection!

It was such a great experience being able to shock everyone, except for the mexican wrestler, who knew all aboot it.

a sweet pic of Mia and I while Maria was still alive and kicking. Her and Polar Ice had a slight disagreement. She was under the impression that Polar Ice wanted her to stay up all night and party and have fun. Unfortunately, Polar Ice decided otherwise. So for all you kids out there, let this be a lesson. Never EVER, expect Maria to last a whole night when Polar Ice is involved.
Me you ask?? Proud to say that I stuck the landing on this occasion, staying up right until the bitter end. I even was gonna get up and make breakfast for everyone, but the stove wasn't ready for me. Next time... ohhhhh next time.

and here is the "crowdsurfing" picture that you all were expecting.. ...

Its a perfectly legitimate form of travel..

WhatEVA.. I'll do what I want!

and a nice pic on the last day of our trip before we went for a fantastic lunch with Kath and Matt..

gonna miss you guys :)

So there you have it. our suprise trip went off without a hitch, and we so loved being there with everyone and having the chance to see everyone again.

Until next time..

2007-09-28T11:21:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

I just got to thinking, what kinds of things do I want to do in my lifetime? So I thought of a few things that I would like to do.

LEARN HINDI:

LEARN TO PLAY THE PIANO:

OWN A GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG:

GO BACK TO BUDAPEST:

SPEAK FLUENT FRENCH IN FRANCE:

HIKE THE WESTCOAST TRAIL:

These are just a FEW things on my mind. Keep reaching higher right? Now I just have to find my list from when I was a teenager and see if i actually did anything on my list yet!!

What are some of your things you'd like to do before you die?

Love mia

2007-09-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Sorry to have taken so long since our last post. Haven't had too much goin on, but we did take off and go for a short stint in Vegas baby.

Lets see what went on down in Sin City..

Here's a pic of yours truly hangin out (yes that's a smoke in my hand.. VEGASSSSSSSS.. oy yeah, rules need not apply, thanks very much .. mm hmmmm) in the Bellagio gardens.

We had a couple opportunities to go and see the hotels, even there Ive been through most of them.

So we decided to take the plunge and splurge one night when Nobhill caught our eye.. very nice restaurant in the MGM Grand, and since it was Food Week in Vegas, they had a really good deal going on that we just couldn't pass up.

I just wish that they never brought the bill at the end.. EEK!

Proof that we were playing slots, and that we actually WON some of our money back!

Hazaaaa!!
This actually is a really special picture, because we all lost lots of money before this, and then literally, on the second to last credit that maria had from another machine, she cashed out, and put like, 50cents into this machine, and HIT! so funny..

Cassandra and Me getting stoked for a night on the town..

And lastly, a shot of the Strip at night.. yeah its kinda blurry, but after being awake and drinking as much as I did, that's pretty much how it looked through my eyes for the majority of the trip..

I would have to say that the hilights were definitely

-dinner at nobhill.. OMG what a meal... uuuuugh

- Zumanity at New York New York.. DAMN what a show.. amazing!

- The Blonde bombshell that was in the elevator with me that asked if I needed some "company"

- The uninterupted HOURS of gambling to my little hearts desire. I don't even wanna look at the poker table for months.

Thanks MGM for a spectacular stay, and fun games to play.

We'll be back soon!, but not that soon..

2007-08-07T23:28:00.000-07:00

hey all..

just thought I'd drop a super quick line before bed..
I want to introduce you all to the newest member of our family..

She knocked the plant over.. \/

Just lookin @ her is makin me sleepy..

G'night all!

2007-08-07T13:47:00.001-07:00

Howdy everyone. There is a better post on the way, but for any of you that are interested in the US election of 08 and what the candidates have to say on the environment, Grist (which I love) has interviews with a few (soon to be more and more) of the candidates.

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2007/08/01/kucinich/index.html?source=weekly

Please check it out, and for any americans out there, just remember, if you say someone can't possibly win, I bet there are a million other people out there who say the same thing. If you all band together and vote for the people who you think DESERVE to win, you may just surprise yourselves and the rest of the world...

2007-07-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

So youre all wondering how crazy was this weekend?? VERY CRAZY!!! Having 3 men stay at our house was interesting. . It was funny though, they were extremely interested in getting drunk all weekend, which was great for them, Im pretty sure they had a fabulous time!! I joined in on the drunkenness only one night. That's enough for me!! Vlad indulged a few more nights than me though. He ended up taking the four days off which was a nice break for him. Here are some pics fromt he stampede...

Live was playing a concert which was pretty cool. There were so many people there. We could hardly move, especially when they started playing. We had a pretty good day there, although we didn't do very much. Just drank. And also we ended up getting separated for about an hour which was NOT FUN!. I felt like a little kid waiting for my parent. I highly recommend making a meeting spot before you part ways. We also got a chance to see the fireworks that night too.

Here are Vlad, Patrick and Kevin playing over/under. It was so hot that day. But fun. This was about the time that we got separated. It's amazing how expensive it is to go to the stampede. Admission ALONE costs $13 which is ridiculous. A bottle of water is $3. Food... eek. I saw some people walking around with a wagon pulling food and drinks. Smart idea.

This is all of us. It was pretty cool though, there was this magician who was doing tricks along the grounds, and he stopped us and did some tricks. He was pretty cool. I did get his card, but i lost him. Great sense of humour, he made us all laugh, and at the end of it, he did a snap dance with Kevin. (Kevin had a thing with a snap dance all weekend.. dont even ask!) Plus, the song of the weekend was "Buy UA Drank". Wow, what a champion song that is...

Vlad and Adam..

Then was Saturday, the famous Margaritaville party. That was fun! ( yes and no). It was fun for everyone else except for me and Vlad! First of all, let me start off by saying, Vlad is not good in situations when cooking for a lot of people. I should have known this. The menu consisted of gougeres ( a french puff ball with cheddar and salt) and champagne, which was a huge hit. YUMMY!! The first course was a lovely baby greens salad with homeade french vineagrette which Vlad made from scratch (it was very good) and almonds. Then came the freaking pasta. We were trying, operative word "trying" to make a mushroom raviolis, with sauteed mushrooms, asiago cream sauce all wedged between two pieces of flat pasta like lasagne noodles. The only problem is that when we went to boil the stupid pasta, the first package just clumped together and every time we went to separate the pieces, they just fell apart. It was very frustrating. Then we tried a second package.. same thing. So we just used penne we had in the cupboard. (it was JUST enough).

The thing that really made me mad is that 2 people bailed out at the last minute. Key characters too. I guess I should have known as they always do this, but it was still disappointing. But the show must go on! And it did! Im just glad it's over and I can appreciate people who do this sooo much more now.

Me and my husband Coconut "nutty" Joe. He looked great with the straw hat and everything.

Patrick was "Jack Daniels" who was murdered. Adam "Sandy Beachbum" the surfer, and me , "Coconut Jane".

So I guess a good indicator was that people left at around 1 am. And i received a few emails thanking me and Vlad for the night. We were still cleaning up yesterday. And it was a scorching 30+ degrees inside the house.

But I think one of the funnest parts of the weekend was when me and Vlad got up early on Saturday morning and went to the Stampede together. ITS SO EXPENSIVE! We spent $60 for admission and 4 rides each. But we had a great time. We went into the horse exhibit and fell in love, absolutely in love with this Canadian Horse. He was gorgeous. We bonded with him for a good hour. And every time we went past his stall, he kept remembering us and we just hung out and pet him for so long! But there were so many gorgeous horses. We decided that we WILL own a horse or two in our lifetimes. WE MUST!!

So all in all , it was a succesful weekend. The guys ended up not making their flight due to a lack of fire under the ass, but they did make it on a midnight flight, so that was good.

One other thing... WERE GOING TO VEGAS IN SEPTEMBER!!!! SO excited. Hmm.. that's it for now!! Hope you enjoy the pictures! And I start my job for the catering company this weekend. Wish me luck!

Love , Mia

2007-06-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
So its been a couple days since we made it back from our short yet eventful vacation in Vancouver... we're still recouperating, and just yesterday I landed myself a fever and am just now starting to feel normal again.

Although we had a great time all around on vacation (other than the fantastic vancouver weather) we're excited to get back to the grind and keep workin it.

I came back to my job and almost immediately I was given a raise! So that's pretty cool and was a nice way to come back to my job. Mia also has a couple other money making opportunities that will be coming up, including working at the Stampede (any of your guys coming or what?!?!) and also to help clean her office that she is currently working in. For the amount of work she'll make a good chunk of money, so that's sweet as well.

As for me, I'm planning on doing up a website for my sister's business, and also start taking in computers here at home to repair. Not to mention writing music, since now I have all my gear with me :) Expect to hear some new music from me in the near future! Man o man its been a while, and the ideas are swirling nonstop, lemme tell you.

Anyway, enough with all that, and onto some of the pictures!

A shot of Mia and I at the quaylesgate winery.. we went for a magnificent dinner and obviously purchased some wine for the trip. Kelowna was definitely a good way to kick the trip off..

A shot of me on my horse "Belle". Mia found us a nice horseback riding ranch on the web and we went for just an amazing ride up in the hills high above Westbank. I got the biggest horse they had, and we made a darn good team!

Another shot of my hunny and I on our horses. If you ever have the chance to make your way to Westbank, I would highly recommend going to "Mandy and Me".. we had a fantastic time!

Here is Maria lounging atop the terrace @ mission hill winery. We decided to "take the plunge" and go for some lunch and wine there after our horse rides. As you can see, the view is quite something. Mia drank a bit too much wine and was a little tipsy, but all in all it was an amazing day!

And here we are now in Seattle.. we were blessed with a beautiful day to go and do some sightseeing. Mia had never been to Seattle before, so we went all around the downtown core, hit up Experience Music Project, and eventually the Pike Place Market. So much to see!!

Lemme just start by saying that my family is the BEST! My rents threw a wonderful BBQ for us and everyone came out.. it was so great to see everyone together and thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen, particularily my parents who worked their butts off. When the bocce balls come out though, its all business!!

and lastly but not leastly, here is a shot of my siblings and me.. dont we look fab-u-luss?? This was the night before we left and we decided to go and throw some bowling balls. Obviously Mikey came out on top.. I was having an off night.. like all nights that I go and bowl! :(

We have lots more pics but it would take quite a while to post them all, so you'll just have to live with these ones. All in all our trip was so wonderful, and it was great to see everyone, do some shopping, and go explore. Although the drives were long, we took them in stride and made it back safely.

We'll probably find our way back out at Christmas time, so I guess until then, thanks again to everyone that we got to see and take care. Hopefully some of you will show up for Stampede!

Enjoy the pics!
V signing off

2007-05-30T13:40:00.001-07:00

I have a funny thing to say,

Yesterday my dad killed a bee with a fork. It was awesome.
OKBYE!

2007-05-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

WOW! What a few crazy couple of weeks. Well our anniversary was so awesome this year (obviously because it is the 5 year mark!) But last Friday I was taken out for such a lovely romantic dinner at the Broken Plate Greek restaurant. The food was awesome, but the company was the best!! So we finished that night off with me drunk which was funny. !!
But Tuesday was the kicker!! I was taken to a spa for a romantic whirlpool and a facial/massage side by side with eachother. That was awesome. I totally fell asleep on the table! It was pretty brilliant. (i have the bestman in the whole world by the way)
I will post some pictures of our dinner on a later date because im at work right now.

So that was an awesome week, and then this last week Kath and Matt came to visit with us!! It was so much fun! They arrived on Friday evening and we had some drinks and a BBQ (unfortunately the weather was crap this weekened which hindered what we could do) But despite the weather all we did was laugh all weekend. It was fabulous!We even managed to slip a dinner at the olive garden in with the fun!! We can't wait to make our way home in a few weeks!
We will be coming June 3rd. Our plan is to make our way to Kelowna on Saturday morning (its about a 6 hour drive). We booked a hotel for Saturday night, were having dinner at a winery ( SOOO EXCITED) and we are also going to SEATTLE!! YAY!!
Plus were gonna be having a BBQ that Vlads parents are gonna throw.

So yeah, thats the update. Ill update soon!! buhbye

2007-05-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Hidey Ho Everybody!

Just a quick little post to let everyone know we're doing okay still here in Cowtown, and to make a vacation announcement!

We will be returning to our beatiful BC in the upcoming month.. from the 2nd until the 13th, Mia and I will be taking some time off to drive down from here to Kelowna, and then the next day down to Vancouver! Mark your calendars people!! There are lots of people I wanna see when we get home, so let it be known that we'll be home!!!

The day today is nothing short of lazy.. I love midweek days off, regardless of what I do, or don't do I should say. Just getting ready to make some dinner and watch the Nucks tie up the series.. not before we take a walk and grab a slurpy.. with the sun shining till 9 each night, its a huge incentive to take a walk :)

Work is going good for both of us, and its actually going to be our 5 year anniversary come the 11th of this month.. 5 years we've been together anyway, so naturally I have some festivities planned for my lovely lady. I'm sure she'll write all about it :D

Hope everyone is doing good! Everyone enjoy the sunshine and we'll see you/talk soon.

GO NUCKS GO!~

http://www.fitnessvancouver.ca/assets/canucks-logo.gif>

2007-03-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.
I just have a really big beef today, and although i know not many people read our blog, i stil lhave to get it off my chest.
It has to do with all of those older people in the world. (and young i guess too!) who are haters of the environmental movement. I have this guy in my office, and i swear he has a problem. I have taken it upon myself to be the recycler in the office. Mostly everyone helps out, but he is the one who is a pain. He won't even keep a recycling bin in his office. Apparently it messes up the look of the office. All i have to say to you is "LICK ME TODAY!" The part that bothers me the most is that people who are very wealthy think that their poop doesn't smell. BUT IT DOES! And it really gets to me when they feel like they are exempt from doing something good because they have money. I feel like my integrity and my moral code are what make me who i am, and the fact that i actually care about the world doesn't make me a granola, but makes me selfless. And the rest of the population of people who actally give a crap, YAY FOR YOU! Give yourself a big hug.
Sometimes i feel like there is no hope because people are in their bubble. A bubble is very comfortable. And its sometimes hard to always think about whats best for the world, i know that, but the world is not for us to just keep taking from. Its so sad because what are our kids going to say when there is not enough of anything to go around when they are grown up.?? They are gonna sit there and say " why did you just sit there and let this happen? You could have done something!"
I really believe that saying " one person doesn't make a difference" is bull. If everyone thought the opposite, just think of what is possible.

Ok thats my rant for the day. Sorry, im just feelin jaded and needed to scream out! on the computer screen.
Thanks for listenin.
mia

2007-03-26T23:31:00.000-07:00

Heya everehbuddy!

So this last weekend, Mia arranged for us two suckas to stay a night at the Delta Banff Lodge.. complete with champagne, truffles, and a chance to get away from the Calgary scene.

..and some pics?

So WOW goes out to the Banff Springs.. I had never actually been there, and man was I blown away with the history.. such an amazing story behind it all! The view aint bad eighter..

We stumbled across the Gazebo on the far side of the hotel.. all of the rooms had all their own feels entirely. Another nice touch were all the various size pianos scattered around the hotel.. people would play, and the walls would reverberate sound all over. It was pretty awesome just to walk the halls!

a look @ our living quarters for our stay..

the weather cooperated nicely enough and we were able to take in the sights. Managed to get a couple great shots and got to sleep in a bit as well.

So yeah! Enjoy the pics.. they don't really do justice, but better than nothing I suppose :o

Take care everyone... GO NUX GO!

2007-03-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

Sup eay'buddy!

I dunno what's better.. finding a swath of great music as of late, or the precup run the nucks are about to take all the way deep into post season..
I have an announcement for everyone~ Its most nice to be here in Calgary as their hopes go up in flames! oh~!
And what's with the weather Vancouver?!? Maybe not in hockey, but Calgary certainly does beat Van City in suuuuum ways.

Felt the need to post as its been awhile.. and I wouldn't be able to make some stupid excuse like "what?? I don't have a computer :p" and get away with it..
We get to go to Banff for next weekend! Mia planned it all out already.. so exciting!
So we're hoping the weather's gonna be nice as it'll be a treat to get out of the city. Both of us could use a little getaway for sure.. Christmas feels like it was last week!

Hope everyone back home is doing well, we miss you guys. If you didn't know, Mia will be coming to Vancouver at the end of the month to pay a small visit also. Mom, thanks again.. you are magnifico. OH and if you enjoyed Sin City, GO SEE 300.. that is all.

V

2007-02-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I was surfing the web and i came across this very interesting site. And on this site i found this pdf about bottled water. I never thought about how bad it was for the environment. I can see its benefits in third world countries and places where proper water sanitation isnt available (like Thailand and Laos where we always drank bottled water) But here in Canada, its very safe to drink the water. I dont particularly like the water in Calgary because it tastes like chlorine with wayyyy too many minerals (its so hard). I like the water in BC though. Plus its soft, which in my opinion tastes better. But heres the link. http://www.kairoscanada.org/e/action/waterBottledWaterBackgrounder.pdf

I found it interesting, and you might too.

So me and Vlad are going to VEEEGASS baby.

In May. I really really really just want to stay at the Mandalay Bay. Its always been my dream stay. I dont know if its gonna happen, but well see.

So ive been keeping myself busy by playing Tomb Raider. Its really fun. I feel all cool with Lara Croft. Shes an awesome character. Girl power!! yeah.

Ok thats all for me. taa taa~

mia

2007-02-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Sorry for my hugely long post the last time. Some anonymous posters dont like my rants lately!! Am i getting too political for some?
Things have been cool lately. Nothing crazy happening. I have an appointment with the U of C today to get some info on certain programs and transferrable credits etc. Ill let you all know how it goes. This weekend, the three of us (me, Vlad and dad) are going to a big fat greek wedding! YAY! It should be fun. Ive never met the people, nor has anyone else, but since she's from Crete, the whole Cretan population in Calgary (and those guilty by association) are invited. Should be interesting and fun! Well post some pictures. What am i gonna wear?!! Shit.. i hate that part. Me and Vlad are going to the Olive Garden for a romantic day after Valentines day celebration. Were so in love its sick. Not to us of course, but if anyone was a fly on the wall.. eww, they'd be grossed out. In front of other people, i find we bicker a lot. Its funny.
Busy week i tell ya. Plus, weve decided to get tatoos together. Sounds cheesy eh? Vlads is a belated birthday gift, and mine is,, well, i really didnt think i wanted another tatoo for a long time, but i came across something and fell in love with it, so im gonna get one too.

So I have something REALLY amazing for you guys to read. Please post your comments on our blog to tell me what you think . sick really
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=214764
Bang Bang

2007-02-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

This is a really interesting interview i came across while reading this wicked online newspaper called Grist. If every city did these small things, could you imagine?

The School of Rocky
An interview with Salt Lake City mayor and green innovator Rocky Anderson
By David Roberts
06 Feb 2007

Rocky Anderson shows off the solar panels on his roof.
Photo: Kate SheppardAs mayor of his city, Rocky Anderson has been unapologetically liberal. He's pushed through aggressive sustainability measures and energetically championed affirmative action, gay rights, and reform of the penalty-heavy justice system. He's also been a fierce and vocal critic of the Bush administration in general and the war in Iraq in particular.

His city? Salt Lake City, Utah, square in the middle of the reddest state in the Union -- the state with the highest percentage of Bush votes in 2000, a number that increased in 2004.

The real trick is, he's done all this while remaining extraordinarily popular; he was reelected in 2003 by a wide margin. He's even won over the business community, which was skeptical if not hostile at the start of his first term.

Anderson's internationally acclaimed Salt Lake City Green program has slashed the city government's greenhouse-gas emissions, built popular support for public transit, enticed private businesses to go greener, and made Salt Lake more friendly for walkers and cyclists. Over a long conversation, I asked him how he's pulled it all off, and why, after seven successful years, he's planning to quit government.

Your Salt Lake City Green program aimed to reduce the city's greenhouse-gas emissions 21 percent below 2001 levels by 2012 -- the equivalent of Kyoto. How's that going?

We have far exceeded that goal, six years early. We're at 148 percent of our goal -- a 31 percent reduction below 2001 levels.

Have you set new targets?

I want to set some 5-, 10-, and 20-year goals. Although I won't be mayor after this year, having those goals makes certain that my successors either expressly repudiate it or do what they can to live by it.

Which strategies paid off?

The goals were for our city operations, our municipal operations; it's not a city-wide figure. The way we accomplished our reductions was primarily through lighting retrofits in public buildings. In our city and county buildings alone, replacing our incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs saved $33,000 a year in electricity. Then we used some of those cost savings to become the state's largest purchaser of wind power.

By doing just those two things alone, we not only saved taxpayers money -- over the long term it will be millions of dollars -- but reduced carbon dioxide emissions by over 1,100 tons. That's because almost all the energy in this area comes from coal-burning power plants.

We retrofitted all of our traffic lights with LED lights. We're constantly converting our diesel fleet over to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles, and utilizing alternative fuels whenever possible.

Probably the least sexy and photogenic thing you've done is put in methane-capture plants.

Yeah, the capture and utilization of methane at our wastewater-treatment plant and our landfill have had by far the greatest impact in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. At our landfill, we used to capture the methane and then just flare it off. Now we use it to generate electricity -- that accomplishes a reduction of 17,600 tons of equivalent carbon dioxide a year. We do the same thing at our wastewater-treatment plant through the utilization of a cogeneration plant. There we provide about half the electrical needs of our wastewater-treatment facility.

We're still taking a look at things like groundwater heat transfer, or geothermal heating sources. The more you get into this, the more you realize we really do have the technologies available to make an enormous difference.

It's manageable to get at things the city directly manages or owns. If you take the area's total emissions, though, aren't city government emissions a relatively low percentage of the total?

It's pretty significant. We've reduced emissions in our operations by 36,200 pounds.

How do you get from stuff the city controls to affecting the behavior of private actors?

That's a great question.

Salt Lake City's intermodal hub.
Photo: Kate SheppardOne example is LEED certification. We have built an intermodal hub here where commuter rail, light rail, all modes of transportation come together at one place in the city. That's the first LEED-certified city-owned building.

We went from that experience to me requiring by executive order that all buildings owned or managed by the city will be constructed or renovated according to at least LEED silver guidelines. Then we went from there to an ordinance that would require all buildings using city funds to be certified. The next step will be -- and I intend to propose this -- an ordinance that will provide incentives for private developers to construct according to high-performance standards. I hope also to propose an ordinance that over time will require high-performance building.

People are finally understanding that just as with other building-code requirements, requiring greater energy efficiency and high performance is a legitimate role [for city government].

After we did our municipal operations -- and again, we did this very consciously, we wanted to be able to say we're walking the talk -- we went to the business community and we set up the E2 Business program. E2 stands for economically and environmentally sustainable. We now have 42 E2 businesses.

We proceeded with the recognition that business owners and managers are focused on their business, not on energy efficiency, recycling, transportation options, all the rest. So we send trained staff or volunteers to these businesses, we inventory what they're doing just like we inventoried our own departments, and we make recommendations for changes they can make, just like we made in our municipal operations. When they agree to a certain level of these changes, they become a recognized E2 business. They get a lot of good publicity out of that. We hear back from a lot of their customers who are very supportive. A lot of them report back that it's good for employee morale -- that employees are really proud to be working for businesses that are engaged in more responsible and sustainable practice.

After we implemented that program with great success, we moved to the next stage, with an E2 Citizen program. We help people recognize their personal carbon footprints, their own impacts on global warming as well as local air-quality issues. There are dozens of suggestions that will achieve reductions in carbon emissions, and emissions of criteria pollutants as well. If they commit to five or more of those, they become E2 citizens.

So a lot of it is education. A lot of it is getting people to recognize that we can all engage in so much more responsible and sustainable practice in our lives and in our businesses as well as in government -- together making a very significant difference, and at the same time saving money in most instances.

You're vocal in support of new urbanist principles of dense, walkable community. I joke that two things are most striking about new urbanism: one, how good it sounds, and two, how little of it actually exists. How have you persuaded people to buy in?

We have a corresponding joke, and that is that there are two things people hate: sprawl, and density in their neighborhoods.

But you know, you come up against a lot of resistance to any change. When we put in the first line of light rail in the Salt Lake City area, there was greater opposition to that than anything I can remember in politics: the cost, the contention that it's outdated technology, that people won't give up their cars to ride it. We don't hear that any more, because it's been immensely successful. It's been so successful -- and this is one of those cases of success breeding more success -- communities that were adamantly opposed to light rail before the first line was ever built are now clamoring for it in their neighborhoods.

Support has reached the point that there have been two sales-tax increase initiatives for money to increase transit opportunities, and they were passed overwhelmingly by some of the most conservative voters on the planet. It's really heartening.

Have you clashed with the [overwhelmingly conservative] state legislature on green issues?

Yes. They wanted me dead. And probably not quickly. They wanted me to suffer before I was gone. Year after year, they made me a target during their legislative sessions. They were always threatening draconian retribution against Salt Lake City because of my position on some of these issues.

But more and more, I think people understand the impacts on long-term economic development from having poor air quality in this region, especially with temperature inversions like we're experiencing now. The governor, Gov. [Jon] Huntsman [R], has set up a blue-ribbon task force on climate change. He understands that Utah has fallen far behind the rest of the country when it comes to taking measures to combat global warming. I've also cosponsored with Robert Redford and Sundance an annual conference of mayors from around the country where we bring in some of the top climate scientists. Last year we had Al Gore come and put on his presentation. We talk about communicating this issue, and best practices for municipalities.

Some things, like changing to CFL light bulbs, seem like sacks of money laying on the ground -- yet they just aren't happening in so many big cities. Are there still cultural barriers?

Some of these solutions are so readily in reach and so economically beneficial, yet still not being embraced by so many governmental entities, at all levels. It is a remnant of this thinking that good environmental practices somehow run counter to good business practices, or economic development interests. But people are starting to understand that good environmental practices, good business practices, and good long-term, sustainable economic development go hand in hand.

It doesn't take a brilliant accountant to figure out that if you can buy compact fluorescent bulbs, albeit with a small increase in price initially, you're going to come out ahead. Same thing holds true with our transportation systems. You can't keep building more and more highways, or widening the highways we have now, and solve congestion problems in the long term. You're just accommodating people to live further and further away from their work, to commute longer distances, and once again fill up our highways. It's not sustainable, whether you're concerned about crowded highways, protecting open spaces, or air quality.

Why have you decided not to run for a third term?

Clearly there's a missing link in the formation and implementation of good public policy by our elected officials. Most elected officials aren't leaders. They don't read a whole lot. They don't know much about most of the areas upon which they have such great impact. I don't think a lot of them really care about much more than what they perceive as being the politically efficacious thing to do. So I want to devote the rest of my life to grassroots advocacy and organizing around human rights and global warming.

You have no plans to run for other office?

No.

Do you think grassroots advocacy can have the practical impact of an executive position, even at the city level?

Not if you have the right person in the executive position. But I can't be here forever.

Sustained progressive change has got to come from people who care. Most people in this country do care, very deeply. The reason our elective officials don't do anything to bring about positive change is they don't sense the people really care about it. It's not in front of them. President Clinton has made reference to that in regard to the 800,000 people killed in 100 days in Rwanda -- said he didn't understand the gravity of it as it was happening.

Anthony Lake, President Clinton's national security adviser, two weeks into the genocide, told the director of Human Rights Watch to keep three words in mind: Make more noise. Our telephones aren't ringing. If our telephones aren't ringing, people don't care. And if people don't care, we're not going to be taking any action to intervene. If there had been a principled lobby, enough concern expressed by the American people, we would have seen a very different result.

And global warming? I see it as exactly the same issue. People have not been mobilized. People mostly have been confused on the issue, because the Bush administration and industry-sponsored organizations have been out there spreading lies. There really hasn't been any organizational effort on the ground in each community, getting people who care about these things to engage in the kinds of action that will bring about effective change.

If this were the No. 1 issue in the last congressional races, believe me, the candidates would have responded. And they'd have responded once they were elected. We can create that kind of national lobby around these issues. There's no doubt about it.

In some ways, you're facing the same choice Al Gore is facing: whether to choose politics or work at this grassroots stuff. Sounds like he's making the same choice you are. Have you talked to him about it?

I have actually. I begged him to run last time. I thought that was his shot. I think he could have kicked Bush's ass last time around.

Congrats on everything in Salt Lake City. I hope it catches on.

I do too. As I always tell people, I was on the outside too, and disgusted with what I was seeing in government. It's an extraordinary opportunity for me and a real privilege to be in a place where I can actually get some of these things done rather than complaining that people aren't doing it. It's been a heartening thing for me and the team we've built here.

2007-02-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all. I have a beef that I want to let EVERYONE know about. Yesterday, I called CIBC because they were sending me paper statements after I requested them to seize sending them (and they said " no problem!")
I was really appalled at what I was told.
"It is against the law to not send you a paper statement. We need to have a paper trail."
So I was confused as Im sure all of you would be as well. So I called my Citizens Bank Visa, (who make a clear commitment to the environment in their mission statement, if you are looking for a good card to go with, choose them) who send me NO, yes, that's right, NO PAPER STATEMENT EVERY MONTH. Why, they must be breaking the law! But i phoned and asked them, and they said, "its perfectly fine to not send a paper statement) I phoned CIBC back another time and asked to be put onto someone who would be able to give me a real answer as to WHY, i dont care if that is your policy, I want to know WHY. Why other banks, companies, can do this and you guys cannot. At MY REQUEST!?
So I thought i would get an answer, and what does the girl at the "right department" say to me? "that's just our policy miss" and then she preceeds to get bitchy with me after i asked WHY, i iknow that is your policy, but WHY. Do you think she could tell me? She was more useless than the other two people i spoke to. So i wrote a letter to CIBC and heres how it goes. Please feel free to add some suggestions to a revision, more comments etc. If they do not honour my request to have a paperless statement (as im sure they get hundreds of calls a day for the freaking request) I will be making a petition over the internet. I will then send it to the appropriate person. I need some suggestions with that too if you guys have any input!
Here goes:

I don't have a question, but a comment. I am a customer of one of the CIBC Visa cards and yesterday, I requested to have my account go paperless. This means I do not want to receive paper statements in the mail. This is because I am doing my small part in reducing, reusing and recycling. I check my account online once a week. Yesterday I phoned CIBC and personally requested a paperless statement. Unfortunately, CIBC's commitment to the environment is null. I was told by 3 CIBC representatives that it was "against the law" to not submit a paper statement each month. I find this outrageous, as my other credit card issuers honour my request. I am absolutely appalled that your company would use terms like, "against the law" because clearly, it is not. And to make matters worse, your representatives became short with me when I asked them "WHY" the policy is that way. Please get back to me with a clear answer. Thank you very much. "

Ok, i know its a bit bitchy, but hey?! Im pissed! Tell me what you think! And sorry for not writing any sooner!! I guess I had to give Vlads computer the glory of being up there front row centre for a bit!

We will be posting some pictures of the Vancouver/Calgary hockey game we went to on Saturday. It was a blast!

2007-01-17T12:13:00.000-08:00

So after many months, I have finally amassed enough cashflow to be able to afford my newest creation.. ladies and gentlemen, I give you.. my new RIG ( updated with some new shots of my display.. oh baby!)

The following may not make sense to many, but to those that it does, here are my specs:

Cooler Master 830 Server Case
Asus P5N32-E SLI Gaming Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4ghz CPU @ 3.2ghz 1.37v
Team Xtreem DDR2-800 PC6400 4-4-4-10 1t @ 2.00v
EVGA Geforce 7900GTO PCI-E @ 650/1300
Soundblaster Audigy 5.1
Zalman 9500 LED Copper Heatsink
Western Digital 160gb SATA HDD, Western Digital 200GB ATA HDD
Seagate 120GB SATA HDD
Fujitsu 30gb ATA External Drive through USB
LG 16x DVD+/- DL Optical Drive
OCZ GameXStream 700w Power Supply
Nexus 4 channel fan controller
Ngear Multi-Card Reader w/ MS, CF, SD, Smart Media & USB2.0 support
Logitech Backlit G11 Gaming Keyboard

Hope you like the pics! Many thanks go out to everyone that chipped in with donations for this project! I couldn't be happier with the turn out!

2007-01-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone who still reads this!!
So happy new year first of all. And once again, its already January 12. Wow...
There has been a pretty cold snap here in calgary, but its brilliantly sunny for.. hmm almost every day, so thats awesome!
Work is good for me, nothing exciting happening. Thats what i wanted. Ive been toning up with aquasize every week. It feels so good to get out and move. Im a little stiff today, but i worked really hard last night.
I am gonna post some pictures next time around. I dont have the camera of a usb cable here. I took some really pretty shots of the mountains and of christmas so ill post those.
Ok, just wanted to quickly update. taa taa for now.
xo mia

2006-12-31T22:49:00.000-08:00

wow.. i'm kinda in awe right now.. I dunno if its cuz it's the END OF 2006 (which I might add was a GREAT YEAR!!!) but I'm feeling prettttty damn nice, and I just wanna wish all of you out there a very happy new year, and all the best.

Lets make 2007 another year to remember..

V

2006-12-22T07:05:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!
So we had our dinner party last night and it was a smash! (in a good way!)
The food was wicked, and my roasted vegetables were amazing. Moms mashed potatoes were spectacular. And it was nice to get everyone together for a good meal. Plus, oddly enough, we managed to keep everyting hot and fresh with just one oven!
So far it has been a pretty good christmas.
So now that the new year is coming, i was thinking about a new years resolution. ( i know its cheesy, but im not gonna make a stupid promise i cant keep, like starving my body from food, or making an exercise schedule i cant keep, or even to try and improve some relationships) This year, im gonna try and make a goal that i can attain that i want to share with everyone here!
IM GOING TO TRY AND BE CARBON NEUTRAL!
Basically, for those of you who don't know what that means, it is basically when you buy things called "offsets" that is buying like clean credits, methods sponsored a clean energy project that balances out the environmental impact of your driving.
check out some of these links if you want to do something to help the environmental impact you are doing to our precious earth.
TerraPass
Offsetters
Carbonzero
Zero Footprint
Please have a look at these sites when you are having your morning coffees or afternoon lunches. It's scary, but things will drastically change if WE ALL dont do something!
Ok, thats my lecture for the day!!
Well,,.... thats all i have to say for now. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF!!
I miss everyone a lot in BC, and ill be there in spirit, I hope the Rozic/Shep family likes their presents!! Love you guys.
TK, im glad you like your card.
BYE!

2006-12-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!! Wow, Christmas is coming in 2 sleeps!!! YAY!!

Once again, me and Vlad will not be together, but it should be wicked anyway. My sister and her Greek boyfriend arrive tonight!! Im very excited. Im also very curious to see how her boyfriend likes Canada. I was thinking to myself, no trip to Canada is complete without... WHAT? I was thinking it would be wonderful to go to Banff or Canmore or something like that for a night. Any other suggestions?
Thursday night me and Vlad are hosting a "Christmas Dinner" at our house. I figure since i cant have my husband here with me, ill bring christmas to us! Plus, Toni's boyfriend has never had a canadian christmas dinner before, so hopefully he will enjoy it. Then after we are going to something called "Zoo Lights" They have i think a million lights that are everywhere and they sell hot chocolate (but of course, im making my own to bring along with melted lindt chocolate and fresh steamed milk) and they have fire pits everywhere too!! Im really looking forward to it. Plus, im gonna buy the chickens (no turkey this time) from Safeway so that will save me A TON OF TIME since its on a work night.

So i was reading common ground (its a vancouver paper) and i was very interested in an article that i think you all will be too! Apparently Al Jezeera has a website that has streaming video, Unbiased world coverage on important issues that im sure we all care about, but dont see the whole picture.
http://english.aljazeera.net/News

Ok, well ill let everyone know how the night went. Talk to you all soon! xoxo
mia

2006-12-17T09:49:00.000-08:00

Woweeeeeeee! I get to go home in 5 days!! WEEEE!!! I'm so excited to get back to Vancouver. Specially after the Canucks win last night. Not only that, but at my work we got a brand new 32" hi def monitor, and the guys put a really nice picture of downtown Vancouver on it just to make me more excited!!

Presents have been bought and I kinda feel like Santa bringing them in a suitcase for the fam. Should be a really good Christmas this year. I haven't been anticipating it like this for a good decade. It got lost on me for a couple years now, being busy with work or just preoccupied with other things. But in this case, flying in for the occasion makes it more special somehow. Probably just becuase of how long its been since I've seen everyong, and how long I've been here (which doesn't really feel like that long honestly)

Anyways, I just wanted to wish everyone else who reads this blog a very merry christmas for you and yours, and all the best for the new year. For those in Van city, I'll be flying in on Friday the 22nd, and going back on the 27th. Hopefully I'll be able to make the most of my time and get to see all of you!
Take care everyone :)

V

2006-12-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

Howdy everyone.

We haven't done an update for a really long time so i thought i'd say HAYEEE
Everything here is going well. I just went for a wicked company christmas lunch with the people from the office. It was delicious, just like a wedding buffet!! Awesome!.
I cant believe christmas is almost here. Vlad is leaving me, boooo............. urns!!
Maybe one year, we will be okay to spend christmas together for a change. SIgh...When were married i guess...
Ive almost finished all of my shopping. Its great!! Every year i want to purchase less and less presents. I think its annoying. But this year will be great, on Saturday im going over to Chrissy
s for a potluck dinner!! Yum..Im bringing a chocolate cinnamon brownie trifle...
Speaking of, i need whipping cream.
Ok, well i wanted to say hi.
I gotta go, ill write soon!@
xo mia

2006-11-24T07:32:00.001-08:00

Y'know, few things in life should be so highly treasured as a really good night's sleep.. honestly. Really think about that.. whenever you go to bed at night, you don't think about it.. you just lay there and think, okay, I'm tired, and then POOM, awake in the morning (at least that's how it should be.. I think) And then when you wake up in the morning feeling rested and relaxed, muscles nice and loose, energetic and ready to face the world, you don't think about the great sleep that you just had.. you are already thinking about what you need to do for the day right? Typically, that's easy, because sleep should be like breathing. Subconscious, and relatively easy to handle without much thought.

However... what happens on those nights when you go to bed just the same, and something holds you back?? Maybe its stress, maybe it's temperature, or maybe its just being right uncomfortable in your skin yes? Something tugs at you and keeps you awake, and then once you are able to sleep, welllllll forget about it being long, deep and relaxing.. noooo no, you can expect a vexxing, troubling, tossing and turning fiasco easily capable of keeping you up for a looooong time. What's worse is that in the morning, bags drooping, eyelids fighting every voluntary movement, you feel cheated.. like, in your head you think "What in the hell was that sh*t body??.. is that the best you can do??"
See, that's how I feel today.. my body is tired from working out, being awake for a long day yesterday, and yet here I am at 830 in the morning sipping on coffee, feeling as defeated as the day I let in 5 goals in 4 shots in a soccer game (yes its possible)

I realize that all that up there was kinda uneccessary, but yknow, it's my bloggy and I'll spam if I want to, spam if I want to..
So now that I am up and nowhere NEAR running, I figured I'd make my morning coffee and share my sleep woes with everyone. Strange considering that I used to be up until 3-4am every night.. man how the times change so quickly. Before you know it, you're working normal hours, giving yourself curfews, doing all this responsible stuff.. what have I become?? I still wanna be loud, proud and 19, going to rock concerts and skateboarding.
But it aint all bad, life at a quarter of a century does have its benefits. As Homer Simpson said it best, "I'm Male aged between 23 and 53.. EVERYONE LISTENS TO ME!"
I'm starting to wonder if this post has ANY point at all.. if it does, could someone please drop me an email and let me know what it was all about.. thanks, you're beautiful :)

2006-11-17T13:25:00.000-08:00

PLEASE CHECK THIS OUT WHEN YOU HAVE AWHILE
www.davidsuzuki.org
Its got some interesting stuff!!

2006-11-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.
Im just at work right now. The weather has been pretty awesome since yesterday. We had a chinook and it was like 10 degrees. I heard the weather was BRUTAL at home. Land slides and things? Wow.
So everything here is good. I'm enjoying my job quite a bit. The people i work for are awesome. And Vlad is really liking his job too. He's learning more and more it seems every day!
Can you believe how quickly Christmas is already coming up? I think im done my shopping for the year. I did it all online. Me and Vlad went to the mall a few weeks ago and we wanted to shoot eachother. Its so freaking busy. And the thing about Calgary is that there is hmm.. like 3 malls for 1 million people. (actually, its more like 5 large malls) But still, you can really feel the hugeness (yet squishiness) of the city when you go to the mall, (on a FRIDAY NIGHT by the way) Even going to the Superstore or Costco.. what a nightmare. I wish they planned infrastructure better. Its horrible. Calgary now houses THE WORST DRIVERS.. Mostly everyone here should be on Canada's Worst Driver!

So im now spending the weekends by my lonesome. Well, actually it is kind of good because i get to catch up with the people i dont see during the week.

Hey.. My mom bought her dream car on Wednesday!! (yesterday) yay mom.

Kath, did you get my letter?

On another note, my aquasizing has been fun! She worked the class so hard the other day. I laugh and my abs hurt. Coughing is the worst!! I feel better though. I think my heart loves me more and more every time i do some activity. running for the bus counts too...

Ok, well. i hope everyone is good in the land of rain. I miss you all.. i miss the trees too... ahhh. the coaast...

peace and hug a tree (hemlock preferrably) for me!
mia

2006-11-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I know its been awhile, and things have finally settled down here. Its been a bit hectic, but slowly things are feeling kinda normal. It was really wierd to experience negative double digit temperatures for the first time in a LONG time. Its stupid, but i miss Van.

Our halloween was pretty low key this year. We thought we would just hand out candy, but NO kids came to our door! That was kinda disappointing, but that means we just have to eat the candy.
Vlad and I started going to fitness classes including Yoga, which was awesome this morning. We got a monthly pass to an aquatic centre which is really awesome. They offer everything including a huge weight room for Vlad ( i think im gonna join him in there too)
My job is going really well!! The people in the office are so nice and i really enjoy not running around like a chicken with its head cut off every day. (cough *BUX* cough) There are SOME (like close to none) things i miss about the bux except for my favourite customers and the fun interaction with people. But the job description itself.. not missing it. (and i miss my friends :( )
UNITY....

Hmmmm... what else....
Well, thats really about it.!!
Life is not as exciting anymore with being in the same country every day!! But every day i do think back on what a wicked time we had and where we went, and if im ever sad or bored, i just bring myself back to a beach or a cool spot we discovered, or us sitting on the beach watching a lightning storm at midnight....

Namaste!

2006-10-16T16:56:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! So here we are in Cowtown, and suddenly it's Maria's first actual meeting at work! She figured out her salary and is going in for the first day on Thursday.. I'm so proud of her and glad that she could get work so quickly. I'm sure they're going to love her outright, and I'm very excited for her..

Me on the other hand is a different story. Seemingly, people here in Calgary require certain credentials in the IT field.. all of which I do no yet possess. But never fear! I've discovered that I need to get my A+ Certification, along with my MSCE (Microsoft Certified Service Engineer), and so I've gone and gotten a whole bunch of study guides and plan on taking the test within a couple weeks. Once I get my certification, I have a feeling that I'll have way more opportunity for positions here, and better yet, I'll make a good deal more money than I initially expected.. so for right now, I have to just get something to bring in a couple paycheques, and spend the rest of my time studying. Either that, or I live off of Mia's Sugar Cheques :D

So the house here is awesome.. we have gone to Walmart several times now and have purchased stuff to spice up the house. It actually snowed here today for the first time since I've been here.. so far the weather has been totally awesome and sunny every day. I can see though how potentially cold it can get here.. with the windchill, you gotta be careful.
Anywho, the house is great, and all its really lacking is Sportsnet Pacific so I can watch the Canucks.. oh well, at least there is always game radio.
I told my Mom today that I would post up some pictures of the place, and so here you have it..

So here we have Maria on a bright snowy morning, checking our blog to see how few people have commented.. tisk tisk. The beemer across the street is our car of choice so far, however, I have my eye on a really nice blue 300zx that is sitting in wait for me in the OK Tire parking lot.

Yours truly making that essential first cuppa joe. Thank GOD Maria packed up here stellar coffee machine and grinder.. cuz having fresh ground java each morning has definitely got a hold on meh!

So here is our lovely living room nicely equipped with sofas, coffee table, laptop, and satellite TV BABY! Definitely a nice thing to have on the cold snowy nights.

In all honesty though, this house is in great shape, in a great location only 5 minutes (I timed it) outside of city center, and very cozy all around. Couldn't be happier :)

Here is a shot of our kitchen and what not.. as you can see, nothin too special, but definitely all that we need. Even a small basketball hoop in the back.. gonna have to figure out how to utilize it sooner or later ;)

and last but certainly not least, our KICKASS pumpkins that we carved last night.. not too shabby if I do say so myself. I'm pretty proud of my Grim Reaper.. took us both long enough to do them that's for sure.

So there you have it! Hope everyone is doing well, and not missing us toooo much ;)

Take care to you all and those in my fam at least, will see me at Chrissy Time!

XOXO

Vlad

2006-10-15T00:33:00.001-07:00

P.S.
Has anyone seen/ experienced Method?
www.peopleagainstdirty.com

Its interesting for all of those closet tree-huggers out there. Just consider it...

2006-10-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! Youre probably not all used to reading this and expecting us to be somewhere exotic, but hey, Calgary could be considered exotic in exactly the opposite, not-even-close way?! So we've settled into the fully furnished house and gave it a few mia and vlad touches. Its wierd being here. Like it doesnt really feel like were here and we will just go back home.
Most would say, "Well Maria, Calgary is your home;"but it is not. I feel like Van is my home. But its all for a good cause! Our future! The weather has been really pleasant since we've been here. Sunny every day. Thats one thing i dont think i will miss for the year. Constant crappy weather. Plus, it will be pretty cool for Vlad to experience his first White Christmas~ (even though he wont be here for Christmas)

The house we are at (which is my Uncles) has tons of natural light that floods the house in the morning so thats nice. Even when its cold outside, its nice and cozy inside. We already miss everyone back home basically because we didnt get to see everyone for very long before we went away again!!! But oh well.

Im thinking of taking some night classes at the University or Mount Royal College to get a bit of a head start on my bachelors degree. Maybe get some of the hard math or other science courses out of the way. That would be ideal.

I will be working next week at an office doing reception and secretarial work. Im pretty excited to start working again.. (doesnt that sound wierd!?) But it will be nice to make money instead of just spending it again!! Although spending money in far off exotic places sure is nice!!!
Whenever im feeling like i need to be somewhere im not, i just transport myself back to one of my favourite places abroad.. or ill just look over at Vlad and say, "hey, do you remember when we went...(insert wicked place here)" Wow, thats nice.

So thats all thats going on on this end for now. I really want to keep up the blog because there are so many people that we need to keep in touch with in Van but its just too hard to phone.
So people.. keep your comments coming!! (especially you kath!!!)

Tonight, we have plans to go to a pub with some people including my cousin and her boyfriend. It will be nice to go out and see/meet people.
Ok, take care everyone. Much love...
Mia

2006-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well well well.. guess who's home?!

Man, I gotta tell ya, being abroad for as long as we were definitely is an experience that we will not soon forget. When we look back its almost like a dream.. we keep asking ourselves, "Were we really there? We seriously travelled all around the world? How did we do that!?"

Being home so far, has been quite an odd experience.. for me anyway. Just being here feels like it's so far away from me.. mentally. Like, the simplest thing like driving my little red truck, watching TV, and even eating food here has been changed forever, and I can't for the life of me understand why that is.. al I know is that its a change for the better, and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will never be the same again.. I couldn't even if I tried..

I want to take a quick secong to personally thank everyone who commented and followed along with us on our legendary journey. We honestly felt so good to see people comment and keep up with our travels and tag along with us. It made our trip that much better, and truly kept us safe from feeling lonely. Also helped to know that you all weren't forgetting about us.. because beleive me, we were not forgetting about anyone else!

In the spirit of our trip, we felt that it would be appropriate for both Mia and I to do our own seperate TOP TEN/FIVE LISTS of the best, the worst, the great, and the shi**y.
So without further ado, I'd like to bring on my lists! K, here we go..

Top 10 BEST Moments (from least best, to best best)

10) Getting off the 8 hour bus trip coming from Sukothai to Bangkok

9) Eating Breakfast at Joma in Luang Prabang

8) Running through the pouring rain in downtown Bangkok

7) Visiting the dead buddah caves on the Mekong

6) Coming out of the underground rail to see Budapest in the sunny early morning

5) Running into the ocean at Chaweng Beach

4) Walking around on top of the Acropolis for the first time

3) Sitting on an empty beach watchin the sun rise at 5AM on Ko Pha Ngan

2) Taking an evening dip with my lady on our rooftop pool in Rethymno

1) Riding bikes through Sukothai on a gorgeous misty morning

Top 10 WORST Moments

10) Realizing that I was going to miss a HUGE party in Hungary the day we had to leave
9) Watching Croatia lose to Brazil in the 2006 World Cup
8) Almost missing our plane from Luang Prabang due to an error on our tickets
7) Not understanding a word of our German landlord in Split

6) Being stuck on a bus that was playing Thai music on repeat
5) Getting fined $60 CAN for throwing a butt on the ground in Bangkok
4) Choosing what to throw away in the mall to lighten our packs
3) Having to use a bathroom on the beach in Greece that had no A/C
2) Hitting my knee on the bottom of the wave pool in Greece

1) Cracking the screen on my beautiful Samsung cell phone

Top 5 Best Meals

5) Indian at "The Fifth" in MBK Mall, Bangkok

4) The street Market in Phuket Town

3) Indian at Maharajas, Chaweng Beach

2) The CALZONES at Via Vai, Chaweng Beach

1) The Breakfast burritos in Chiang Mai

Top 10 Most Memorable Sites

10) Ang Thong Marine Park, Thailand

9) Octoberfest, Munich

8) The Emerald Buddah, Ko Samui Thailand

7) The Temple of Knossos, Crete

6) High atop Pest, Budapest

5) Plitvice National Park, Croatia

4) The Dead Buddah Caves, Laos

3) Sukothai, Thailand

2) The Reclining Buddah, Bangkok

1) The Acropolis, Athens

Most Favorite Photo(s) Taken

(in no particular order)

Well there you have it all.. this is my portion, and stay tuned for Maria's which will come in the near future. I want to thank everyone for reading once again, and I sincerely hope you all enjoyed tagging along with us. Until next time!

2006-09-18T02:31:00.000-07:00

Greetings all from Münich!

We made it here after a suprisingly enjoyable 10 1\2 hour bus ride from Pozega, at about midnightish, and got left off right in the downtown part of the city. Münich is quite a large sprawled out and bustling city, and we are very impressed by just how nice and clean it is.. plus, I doubt that a person could ever get bored in a town like this, what with all the drinking, sex, sex, and bratwürst. As you can see, they have the keyboards fitted with all of the cööl germän döts ön töp öf äll the letters! That sentence is no doubt a german linguistic nightmare.

Did I mention that I´m SO EXCITED TO GO HOOOOOOOME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Man alive.. its so nice to know that by this time tomorrow we´ll be boarding a plane to go home. So excited to see all of our friends and family, and just take a load off. The last few days in Croatia were very hard on us.. mostly because we really didn´t sleep all that well, and having to go and see everyone and be with everyone on such a short time span really beat us up. I feel really bad that I didn't get to spend as much time with family as I could have, but I guess that just means we need to go back sooner than later. I want to thank everyone that took care of us in Croatia, and to let them know that we really appreciate your warm hospitality and great cookin!

Anyways, this will be the LAST post before coming home, and unfortunately, this cafe doesn´´t support me placing up some pictures.. shucks. I guess it will have to wait for us to get home..

anywho, just a quick word to say that we made it safe here to Germany, and in 48 hours, we´ll be back in our lovely Vancouver!!!

See u guys then!

xoxox V & M

2006-09-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to MEEEEE!!!!!!!

First of all, thank yous going out to everyone who has remebered my birthday, and especially to those who were soo very kind to write me emails! You guys are the best!!!!!!

My birthday festivities were definitely kept simple this year, not that I'm complaining.. we spent the big day walking through Plitvice National park.. it was my second time, but Mia had never seen it naturally, so we felt it would be a great way to spend the day, and it sure was! We walked through the whole place and got some amazing pictures. After that we took a short rest and then found our way to a restaurant for a great dinner. It's been smooth sailing so far driving through Croatia.. Dubrovnik was beautiful, we even made our way to Brač for a night. After that we found our way into Plitvice, and today we made yet another long haul to Rijeka and Ićm currently typing in a cafe in Opatia. We're going to finish here and then head for one of our last beach excursions before heading further into Gorski Kotar, saying goodbye to the tanning and the beach.

We're honestly could NOT be more excited to come home.. it feels likes its been ages and we just wanna get on that plane and touch down on BC soil..
We're so totallz excited to see all of you and catch up with what's going on with everyone.

Anyway, just wanted to update everyone, and thank you all again for your kind regards for my birthday.. it made my week!
Hope u all are doing great, Matt, really lookin forward to seein u mate!. Ketty, lookin forward to giving u and Matt your gifts and inhaling some fajitas, Edie, a Casino night is definitely in order.. I havenćt played any poker for this entire trip!!!! I need to get back in the thick of it!

K, much love everyone, we'll talk soon.. xoxoxo V ( & M)

2006-09-07T05:14:00.000-07:00

Yo everyone!

So dubrovnik with the rents has been an absolute slice so far.. basking in the sun and viewing very old and historic exhibits, all the while watching soccer at the pub, downing huge pints of heineken/ozuisko, only to come home to the best view imaginable.. man.. life IS rough for us..

True, we want to come home soon.. no argument at all. I have to admit though, this place indeed is making it DAMNed difficult. Its just so special here.. so difficult to get to yes, but very special for sure. Just so much history, and everything is so well preserved and all.. quite nice. Not to mention the water! Oh jeese.. anyway.. we'll talk more about that once we get home and we're missing it. For now, I'll let the pictures, do the talkin.. BING!

Mom and Dad with an old and well preserved canon on the wax to the beach. Just look at the city in behind.. absolutely nothing like it that I've ever seen.. we're definitely being spoiled just being here!

Here is a shot of the town square, which I like to call the town rectangle.. (am I wrong?) from atop the walls that surround the old town. As is obvious in the picture, people byx the hoards travel here to see the sights and beauty of the old town.. mostly from cruise ships do people pour in here.. I have to admit though.. Mia and I officially HATE TOURISTS.. thank god we have earned the prestigious rank of ˝Traveller˝.

This is a another shot from the top of the wall.. as u can see, there is a cruise ship off in the distance, and the sun shining down brightly.. quite a nice day to scale the mammoth fortress and sweat it up..

This is apparently what happened to those who would steal, murder, or pillage in the olden days.. nowadays, this only ever happens to those who have said or done something to make their spouses, or significant others upset. Lucky me.

So there you have it! Another day here in the lovely Dalmatia for all of you to see. Tomorrow we'll be on the road again for the last long stretch of travelling day in and day out. T minus 4 days until I turn a 1/4 of a century old, and I think Lobster is on the menu.. mmm
Until next time all, take care and we'll see u soon.. like, 12 days soon!
xoxo V (and M)

2006-09-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

Dubrovnik is where we are now, and its BEAUTIFUL!!!
Hi by the way!!
We finally got to meet the legendary STAN AND VERA!!! Yay!

We had a really nice time in Hvar, happy to leave though, and we met up with Vlads parents and cousin Krešo.. (who is SO hospitable and accomodating by the way!)
It was such a relief to see them! It was so long awaited and so nice to see a familiar face. We spent our last day in Split in style and we had satellite t.v. in our guesthouse which was pretty cool. We turned on CNN for awhile to see what was going on with the world. (did you know Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter DIED?)
The drive down to Dubrovnik was beautiful on the coast and we even got to drive through Bosnia & Herzegovina?? Another country on our list! The view from our guesthouse here is spectacular as seen in the picture below.

Vlad and i walked around this evening to go eat and walk around and the city is amazing. The walls are 25meters high and it makes you feel like your in a maze! Really something to behold..

Me, Vlad and Stanley Manly!

The view of the sunset from our guesthouse!! Fantastic!

The main square of Dubrovnik. You can faintly see the moon in the background. Even though it is September there are still quite a fair bit of tourists around and even a pair of FIRE JUGGLERS trying to travel around the world on their talent! Really adds something special to the square. They even have a digereedoo...

Id also like to thank Phil who even though your suggestion has already been tried, it was REALLY nice to see a text message from someone at home!! Thanks AGAIN Phyllis,, hugs and kisses...

Ok, off to bed to try and find a taxi up the mountain cuz weve gotten lazy. VLADS BIRTHDAY IS IN 6 DAYSSSSS!!! (hes an old fart 25)
And mom, im proud that you conquered your fear of public speaking! Thats amazing...

love everyone... poutine rocks...mmmm....

2006-09-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

Good day everyone.. we're still on the isle of Hvar and loving our time here quite a bit. The weather was crap at first, but now that the clouds have cleared all is good. We've been working on our tans and feel that we've gotten a tad darker so that's in the good. We've been talkin with Mom and Dad and it looks like we are all set up to meet them in Split on Monday, so we're totally excited for that and getting to travel with another couple finally!

We're getting pretty antsy towards getting back to our homes as its been a loooong time since I've been able to eat cereal, watch seinfeld, and play Unreal.. as well as other things of course :)
We've been thinking alot about going into business with a great idea that we've been embelleshing on the past couple days.. of course, we wouldn't post it on here for some othe fat cat to come in and steal from us, so we'll stay hush hush for the moment.. but its interesting conversation to say the least.

K here's Mia..
I just have one question!! WHY hasnt anyone updated us with whats going on with them!!! Kath.. how was your weekend with Karen and Richard??

We have also had much problems with my family trying to get a hold of us on our mobile phone. Weve tried almost everything there is in the book including asking the operator how and apparently she doesnt know how to do her job properly...

We figure its 011 (from Canada) and Croatias country code which is 385 plus 98 and our number. 944-3887.. CAN ANYONE HELP USSSS?????
ok thats all for now. please update us with the lives at home!!! Kelsey has Steve heard any good news? everyone else... update!!!!

waiting for replies... xoxoxo mia (and v)

2006-08-28T04:14:00.001-07:00

Hello again everyone..

So we're strictly chillin here in Split and lovin that we are somewhere new.. the weather here is very mild.. kinda windy, but at the same time very bright and hot. I remember Split being wayyyy hotter than this, but that was because I was here earlier in the year, like july.
Either way though, we plan on just going around town and takin some photos, eatin some food and taking it ez. Tomorrow will hopefully bring an even nicer day, and we can make our way to the beach.

Anywho, I know the last thing u all want is another page long rant of things, so Ima give u all want u come here for!

Shot of us in Pest.. high atop the hill where they plunked a citadel many years ago. Great views overlooking the entire city.. man what an amaying city it is. HAVE to come back..

Had to show u all a shot of the baths.. easily the coolest experience wećve had in our time in Europe. Lots of people there, but nevertheless, an amazing experience.
Not far from the town center either.. they have several of these baths around town, however, this one according to the
tourist agency we went to, is the nicest.

Shot of Hungary's Victory Monument.. located in the heart of the city. We we astonished and in awe by the sheer beauty of this monument, and the surrounding plaza, where the sun falls on it like an ocean. Being here was the most surreal experience and it literally took our breath away.

Wanted to also give one shot from here in Split.. this is a photo of Gregorius Nin, a statue that sits in the park just outside of Diocletian's palace. You can see the tower of the cathedral just behind as well.
Its said that rubbing his large brass toe brings good luck.. we both feel our luck is very healthy at the moment, but we still rubbed it anyway!

Well that's all I can muster for now.. using the computer here is harddddd on the pockets. Thank god we saved so much money in Greece or we'd be in debt by now.
Also want to remind everyone to go and have a look at Mia's blog, as she's posted her thoughts there for you all..
It will be a couple days now probably until our next post because we will be heading to the island of Hvar on Wednesday and staying for a few days. Until next time, take care everyone, and tty soon!
xoxoxoxoxV

2006-08-27T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone..
We've made it to Croatia (split) and are very happy to be here. The weather is a very welcomed change, being that it is kinda cool and hot at the same time.. walking through the streets is awesome because you're always in the shade and there is lots to see.
We wanted to post some of the pictures that we got from our two days in Hungary, but unfortunately, the computers here have no accessability to the main drives and I cant access my camera to load them up. Hopefully we'll be able to find a place that will allow it. Amazing considering that for an hour of usage it's a whopping 5$. Sick. Also sick is the price of accomodation here. I was very shocked to hear that everywhere here in Split town is 300KN (almost 60$) for both Maria and I to bunk per night. Disgusting really, not sick. I imagine its this way simply because the town is bustling day and night with tourists from alllll over. Even haggling with any of the guest house owners hasn't eally gotten me very far.. apparently me being a croat doesn't entitile me to any special pricing. Maybe it did in the past, but not when they have toursists happily paying top-dollar.
Other than that though, we're so happy that we made it here and that we're on the last leg of our long journey. Hungary was absolutely amazing. The pictures we have speak volumes and I won't even begin to describe the fabulous 36 hours we had there. It is easily the most beautiful city that we've seen so far on this trip, and we simply have to find our way back to see it again.
Anyways, that's my two bits on the sitch.. and here's mia's.. MOM WHAT'S YOUR #!!!!!!!!!! k bye

WOW is the best word to describe Budapest. It is BY FAR the most beautiful place i've ever seen in my life. The architecture is breathtaking. Everything about it is amazing. Let me tell you about our day there...

We arrived in Budapest at 6 am local time and lugged our massive amounts of luggage (we've accumulated too much, its good that were going home soon) onto the bus and metro to get downtown Budapest. We walked off of the metro exhausted and looked up into the back of one of the many beautiful cathedrals sprawled around the city. Breathtaking...
What was also breathtaking was the stupid amount of hours we walked around the city trying to find accomodation because we took a wrong turn. But finally we found a very central place, quite cozy (and too overpriced) but good. We took an hour nap and decided a bus tour would be the easiest and fastest way to see all the city has to offer and give us a tease of what we can do next .(Vlads great idea)
We were just astonished at how beautiful the place was. So by this time it was around 4.30pm and I really wanted to go and visit a thermal bath house. ( something told me i should insist)
Wow are we really glad we went. We arrived at 5pm and had two hours to just relax. The bath house was built by the Turks during their occupation of Hungary (cant remember exactly when) but they are beautiful. The 9 separate pools have differing temperatures from 18 degrees to 39 degrees. You are surrounded by huge stone columns and thats just inside. There is also a huge outdoor pool with statues doubling as fountains everywhere. The courtyard (which is what the pool is basically) is painted a bright yellow and the sun decided to come out for our adventure to the baths. The most exhilarating part of the experience was when you go from a 39 degree bath into one that is as cold as a bathtub filled with ICE WATER.. IT was brilliant. Imagine your skin coming to life with little prickles everywhere. It was such an adrenaline rush.. well never forget that...

So to top off our wonderful day in Budapest, we had a brilliant dinner at a restaurant on this popular street filled with other restaurants. (we will post a picture of our meal at a furthur date)

We had a nice sleep in finally cool weather (what a treat) and the next day we found our way to the museum of terror. Quite possibly the most interesting and detailed museum weve ever seen. They did a fantastic job on it. The museum is dedicated to everything about WWII .. The Soviet and Nazi Occupation and everything about them. They even had a base ment where they recreated the torture and holding cells. It was very real, and EXTREMELY interesting to see what the people had suffered. Plus the pictures of all of the devastation to their bridges and buildings... quite something.

Anyways, we had an amazing time there, never forget it!!So were in beautiful Split and its nice to have Vlad speaking the same language, although it kind of sucks that we dont get any special rates to rooms etc because Vlad speaks the language, but its nice nonetheless. The people are very nice and its cool to hear another language once again. Its unfortunate that its not as inexpensive as we first thought.
Love everyone. Keep in touch...
xoxo mia

2006-08-24T03:18:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone..

So today we're hangin around the house and getting everything taken care of before we finally depart from Athens. Greece has been a wonderful experience, and we've enjoyed our time here for the most part. Staying here for such a long time has definitely gotten on our nerves a tad, mostly just because we became so used to doing our own thing, and being dependent on noone but ourselves. That was definitely not the case being here in Greece, as Maria's family consistently broke the generosity barrier on a day to day basis. It was a real treat to get to meet all of Mia's family, and I loved being able to explore and find this great country and all its treasures.

Things I will miss the most from Greece you ask?? Hmm well lets see..
- the souvlaki
- the beaches
- the plentiful pretty ladies
- the mullets

Things I will not miss so much...
- the heat my god the heat
- the music
- the prices
- the mullets

So the clothes are washing, our bags are refilling and bulging at the seams, and we're very anxious to get back on the road and explore all thet Budapest has to offer. We're going to try and catch as many z's as we can throughout the day before we go for one last souvlaki-fest so that we have enough energy to wake up at 3am and get to the airport. We plan on getting in after 6am in Budapest and finding a room hopefully by 7 if all goes well; grab a couple hours sleep, and then go balls to the wall, drink 5 espressos, and tour the city as fully and thoroughly as we can.

So there you have it.. the next 72 hours will be a rush fa' sho'. Once we get into Split we will call everyone so you guys, expect a call.
Mom if you read this, please send me your # and we will send you ours once we get there as well.. can't wait to see you two and hopefully you've been enjoying your trip so far! Sis, it was awesome to have the chance to talk to you! Give Mikey and Matty my best and expect another call soon.

To everyone else, stay cool and hope you're all doing well. Check back soon! xoxox
V & M

2006-08-19T04:19:00.000-07:00

Wow.. SO sorry to have left you all in the dark for so long now.
Alright, so we're back in Athena for today. We made it back over to the mainland last night on the ferry and took a slight nap since trying to sleep on the boat was like trying to sleep with a jackhammer laying beside you. Bleh.

Our time on Crete was very nice. We got LOTS of sun, saw lots of beach, and met lots of people. It was sad to leave Mia's Grandparents at the end of it all, but with the way they take care of themselves, I'm sure we'll get plenty more opportunities to see them again soon enough.
It is good to be back in Athens though, and getting our trip back on the road so to speak. We leave from here tomorrow in the morn and head West to a town called Tripoli. Mia's sister lives there now, and we're going to go and visit here for a couple of days before we leave Greece. Mia and I are both very excited to be moving on towards Croatia, as I've learned about as much Greek as I think I will remember, and the thought of getting to see my rents is just too sweet.

Anyways, since we have left the blog unattended for so long, we thought we would do a nice large post (specially since now we're not paying 4 euro an hour!). Without further aideu...

We had the privilege of staying for one night only in a small town in the south west of Crete called Kantanos. This is a shot from the street where you enter this cool little town.

Maria x 2 in Yianni's Bakery in Kantanos. After a long hiatus, Maria was finally thrown back into the kitchen to prepare some sweets.. ..

...annnnnd so was I! Me and the bakerman himself! Yiannis & Maria are top drawer (thanks Kath) and they couldn't be better hosts. They invited us in and took care of all the arrangements.. what a pair!! Thanks again guys, we had a fantastic time :)

From Left to Right: Me, Maria, Adonis, and Irini sitting in front of Yiannis bakery in Kantanos. Adonis & Irini are 2nd cousins to Mia and Maria is Mia's 3rd cousin (she thinks) hehe.
Stayed for the night and enjoyed great drinks, great food, and great company.. you guys rock!

This is a shot from our hotel rooftop in Rethymno, another city on Crete. We got a pretty nice room for a couple nights and took some time to ourselves to tour the city. Very cute little fishing city, and the pool on the roof was certainly a nice touch.. beach and sand were close by, but come on! Whooo can turn down a swim after eight oclock with the sun going down?

As we were walking through town, we stumbled across this old-school Turkish Mosque that was erected some time ago, obviously.
This is one thing that I like the best in Greece, aside from the food, and steller haircuts; the old mixed with the older, mixed with the new.. it can be quite beautiful.

A show of the waters waving up onto the beach at Chrissi Island.. we took a ferry for a day trip here to one of the most pristine beaches that Greece has to offer. At first I was a bit teed off becuase I cut a chunk of skin off of my toe, and Mia hurt herself in much the same way.. but once we got past the first set of rocks, playing in the waves took all our worries away!

My lady and I sitting down and enjoying the cool breeze and the hot sun.. are we getting darker?? Its actually kinda tough for us to tell for sure..

This is a shot of the Chorio from the top of a small hill located just a couple minutes walk away. You can see just how high up it is (particularily in the next picture) and gives a very good idea of the landscape.

So yeah, as you can see, quite high up from sea level.. we decided to take a small walk that night and head up. Totally worth it once it cooled off because we were able to get some stunning pics of the valley!

A cute pic of Mia's fam. Her grandpa, grandma, and dad sitting at the house our last night at the chorio.

And now, we would like to take a moment from this post to honour a "special" influence to our trip. Yiannis Marcakis. Our chauffeur, our banker, and fearless navigator, he has been key to our time here in Greece. With sayings such as, "Mia, why don't you just go kill yourself, and jump in the ocean", to "Get that Shieat off yo' face".. and who could forget, "C'mon Mia, wake up and smell the reality". However, all though these are all 100% classics, they still cannot beat being in a pitch black room with Mia and him, only to hear him whisper at 3 AM, "Mia.. ..... ..... I can't see!"

A nice pic to end it all off on.. we just happened to be driving back to Iraklio to catch the ferry at that perfect time of the night when the sun is not very bright, and casts a beautiful stream of colours across the sky.. I tried to get a shot once the sun hung over the ocean, but the quicker we drove, the quicker it dipped out of sight. Oh well, I'm sure we won't be deprived of any sunsets in Croatia!

Alright! Hope you all got your picture fixes for a little while.. as per the usual, more to come as we find our way to Budapest and beyond..
Take it away Mia!

So you may all be wondering what our plans are next? We will be going to Budapest as Vlad said for a day, flying into Split on August 26th. While in Croatia, we will be trying to make a detour to Slovenia's capital Ljubljana.(fingers crossed) From Zagreb we will be taking a bus or train to Munich possibly a few days earilier than our departure date which is September 19th. We would also like to see a bit of Munich while were there, which will put our country count (if we see all the places we'd like to see) up to 8!!! yay. So yeah. The next few days we will just be tying up loose ends. We may possibly make it up to see my Great Grandmother if we can swing it which would be pretty cool.

The weather in Athens is supposed to reach upwards of 40 degrees, so hope for the best, although we have suffered far hotter and more humid weather in the tropics of SE Asia.

It seems like such a far way we've come from those scared kids we were from the start of the trip. Now that we think back, we were different people it seems like. Now we feel as if we can really face ANYTHING head first. No doubts on our abilities anymore, and fear, forget it!

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. We officially have ONE MONTH left. Crazy. Let us know whats going on! Miss everyone lots...
xoxoxo
Mia (&V) !

2006-08-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

So now we're in a place called Rethymno, still on the island of Crete.
It's a pretty nice little fishing type town that we're staying in for a few nights before we make our way back to the chorio.

We spent yesterday in a small village called Kadanos, and had a ball of a time! We stayed in a nice little room that Maria ( a different one) set up for us. We had the chance to meet a bunch of extended family, and I have to say, the Greek hospitality is top drawer. We didn't want to leave!
Everyone was so nice, and I want them to know, if they are reading this, that we had the best time and wish we could have stayed longer. Hopefully we will you all you guys in Athens when we get back to party it up!
Big thanks going out to Yiannis, Maria, Adonis and Irini, among others for making our time there so memorable. You guys are truly the best!

We found a nice little internet cafe, so pics will be posted tomorrow for you all.. not much else to report.. stay happy everyone!

V

2006-08-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! We have arrived in a slight paradise. Its quite different from the quiet village we were at for a week and a bit. But its a nice welcomed change.
We found a cute room for rent, a bit steep for our cheap Asia travels 30euro for a night as opposed to like 7 euro, but whatever. You gotta roll with it. Its been an interesting couple of days, with family drama (no no drama, i dont want no drama) but now things have gotten better and Vlad and i will be spending time by ourselves again which is how we like it!!
We are getting SOOOO excited to go to Croatia.... YAY. And were excited to see Vlads familla. I miss Vera and Stan. so yeah. hmm what else...
We reallyare enjoying it here!! yay.
Yesterday we went to the beach and we played in these 6 feet waves. they were pretty amazing. The only not so amazing thing is that my glasses got thrown off my face as i got pummeled by the water.. sniffle sniffle. It made me really sad...But i bought these cheap aviators to go to the beach in so i cant see anything, but at least the sun wont beat down on my eyes. I will just have to purchase a new pair when i get home. Plus winter is coming soon, so I wont be needing them as much as i need them now... tear...
Today were going to Elafonissi, a really beautiful island just off the south coast here. As we were driving from East to West across the island, the scenery changes so drastically. Its so much greener on this side. Almost reminds me of Canada, but then you open the window and feel the 35 degree weather and see the most blue ocean you've ever seen, and you are quickly reminded that you arent in Canada... But for all of the beautiful things our travels have to offer, im missing home quite a bit these days. We just have so much to look forward to.. and just so everyone can mark their calendars, SEPTEMBER 19th well be home, so family,(Rozic side) are going to go out to the Olive Garden (yay kath and matt) for a SUPER wicked dinner all together. We miss you guys....(and everyone else..)
Ok, well, im gonna boogie. Were gonna go and chill at the room until we go take off for the beautiful island. We will post some pictures soon because the internet cafe we found is quite rockin and fast..
hugs and kisses for all. kath, keep the updates coming, its so nice to hear whats up. Tell Mikey happy birthday for me. (and vlad too)
Everyone else, post whats going on with you too!!
Love..Mia

2006-08-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Just one for you all today..

This is a shot from the beach today.. obviously. The waves were so big here that upon gettin hit with one, Maria lost her sunglasses (prescription) and was definitely put out by it.. quite a shame since we travelled a long way today from the Chorio to get here to the south west corner of Crete.. honestly, I dunno what the name of this town even is.. we found some "cheap" accomodation and like the rooms that we got, and this town is very Vancouver Islandish.. I feel very at home here, and its easily one of the nicest places I've been to so far in our Greek travels. Too bad that we'll only be here for a couple of days :(

My dear parents are in ROME right now.. one step closer, and I'm hoping that they got there okay. Every day we're getting more excited to move on to the next stop, which will be Hungary for a full day 1/2 to do some exploring before we head off to Croatia. We've sorta planned where we're going to be heading once there, but its tough to say pre-emptively. So far, I would like to think that we're going to stay in Split for a couple days, and then head off to the island of Hvar for a couple days as it sounds and looks quite beautiful. From there, meet my parents and head with them to Dubrovnik.

Our tans are getting very tasty my friends. We're making up for it in a big way since there are so many friggen beaches here.. man, its like everywhere you turn there is the ocean. I LOVE IT!
Even this town.. on both sides of it is the ocean.. if you're not looking where you're going, you're gonna fall in whether you like it or not.
The weather has been nice, but unfortunately, we saw a couple of clouds today. I know.. I was quite sad. Though they were nowhere near the sun and didn't save us a second of scorching heat, it still brought a tear to my eye; for that was the end of the 2 week cloudless sky.

Anyways, its getting late here and a kid is crying out on the street and I am getting increasingly agitated.. soooooooo I better cut it here.
Hope everyone is doin well, and keep posted.. more to come as always from the Mia and Vlad show.. L8a!

V

2006-08-04T02:24:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

As mentioned in my last post, everything is well and good on our end. We are in Ierapetra at the moment, which is a small town right on the southern coast of Crete. The weather is perfect and we're doing good.. aside from my knee.

Yesterday we went to Water City water park up near the North Coast and spent the day there. Everything was going well and good until we decided to go on this zipline over the pool and then jump in.. I happened to forget that the pool is only a couple meters deep, and when I went to perform a cannonball, my knee hit on the bottom of the pool pretty hard. Admitedly, it could be a whole lot worse, as I slept on it and walking around today is feeling a lot better than I expected.. it did swell up pretty good though. Oh well, if thats as bad as it gets on a four month trip, I'll still come home laughin ;)

And of course, as promised, MORE PICS!

Here is Maria x 2, and their Grandparents at the chorio.. They have been so nice to me since I've been here and have really made me feel at home. The house that we're staying in is very new and quite nice.. only problem is that some days (particularily like today) are very hot, and at night, without A/C, its kinda warm indoors.

Alright, as you all know I have to take pictures of all the great food that we have had the privilege of eating, and this is the best example of it here in Greece. The souvlaki is out of this world, and it deeply saddens me whenever I eat it becuase I realize after every bite that it is only a matter of time before I won't be able to eat it anymore. *sheds a tear*. Why can't they make it like this in Canada?!?! Damnit!

Here we have the lovely Maria enjoying the sun on one of the numerous and plentiful beaches here on Crete. Mostly the beaches that we've been to are rocky, but there are plenty that are sandy. The water here is heavenly since it is nice and cool and very clear. Swimming here is a pleasure!

A pic of Mia and I at the Palace of Knossos. We made a trip of it a couple days ago, and went around the entire are to snap shots and read about the birthplace of Zeus, and the Minotaur.
The shade was nice to see at the bottom of the hill where we decided to sit down and take a couple photos.

And to end it off, a nice shot of the beach for your viewing pleasure!

So there you have it! Our plans for the next couple days are to relax and attend a couple of beach parties held in the towns close to our own, and then on Tuesday, we'll head off for a drive to the other end of the island to a place called Hania. We'll stay there for a week or so, and then find our way back to Mournies for a couple more days before we head back to Athens on the 18th.

We want to extend our bon voyage to Mama and Papa Rozic on their journey to Rome! Can't wait to see you two and thank you mom for the numbers!

Alright, time to go hop in the ocean.. this net cafe is very hot without and ac, and I wanna go eat some souvlaki, soooooo byeo!
V

2006-08-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Kalispera!!!

Many sorries for not posting in the last couple of days.. we've been pretty busy and moving around alot. We are currently on the Island of Crete, in a tiny town called Mirtos, which is down the hill from the Chorio (like "selo" in Croatian/"villiage" in english). Yes, you heard right. We are literally staying in the villiage of Maria's Dad and I've had the pleasure of meeting her Grandparents who are the kindest most lovely people..
Mournies is a very small villiage and there isn't too much to do outside of go to the beach during the day, and sit and watch the stars at night... which is just fine by me. The views are spectacular, and we can get around the island in style... by this I mean, John drives us around in a brand new honda odyssey.

It's odd at times to think of what kind of a transformation our trip has taken. One second we're living out of a backpack in a foreign country, taking buses and trains and god knows what else, to going to a place with a completely different climate, terrain, and being totally and completely taken care of.. it's definitely a trip, and we're loving our time in Greece so far very much.

Anyways, I need to cut this post short since we're on our way to the ocean, so I will just say that once we find our way back to Ierapetra, and have more internet time, pics will be updated in a big way. Tomorrow we will be heading to a water park for a day of fun in the sun and it should be sweet. The weather here is nothing short of perfect and we're also looking forward to a beach party that will be here in Mirtos in a couple nights.. yeeeeeehaw!

Alright, peace out everyone, and talk to you all soon. stay tuned!!

V

2006-07-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

Yiasou!

Sorry for the lack in posting the past couplea days.. things have been slowwwwwwwwww since we've been here in Greece, and although there is plenty of city to see, things are very expensive, and with the current purchase of both our tickets to Croatia and back to Canada, funds are a hot topic issue and we need to conserve as much as possible, at least till Croatia where everything is cheaper.

We haven't taken all that many photos while we've been here, outside of a couple here and there... but there will be much more to shoot when we're on Crete. We leave on Saturday night and will be on Greek's largest island for 3 weeks.. we're totally looking forward to getting our TANS BACK!!! JESSSSSSS!!!!!!

Although I have no pictures, I do have some thoughts and observations that I've had while here in Greece..
I would like to share them with all of you now, in a segment of the blog I'd like to call,
"Greece: Fact/Myth".. here we go... (DISCLAIMER - I can't be held responsible in the event of a war occuring because of this post - I'm just the messenger people!)

FACT: The metro system here is a fantastic way to get around and see the city, for not a lot of Euro, and is a very nicely buit and well maintained source of transportation.

MYTH: If you begin to walk through a crosswalk with the green walking sign signalling your right of way, and a truck happens to be barreling towards you, the truck will certainly stop and the driver will smile and wave kindly at you when you get to the other side, safely.

FACT: The Souvlaki that can be found for under 2euro are sent from heaven and served up by relatives of the actual Greek Gods for consumption by fellow countrymen and tourists alike. (I know I couldn't beleive this one either, but then I had a chicken and bacon pita and I understood)

MYTH: In contrast to popular belief, Greeks really are not as lazy as people beleive.. the truth of the matter is that they just beleive that everyone else is moving too fast, and they can't be troubled to catch up. (ZING!)

FACT: Machismo is alive and very well in Greece. If my math here is incorrect, someone please feel free to correct me.

1 guy +
1 small VW +
3 x 12" speakers mounted in behind their heads at a proximity of 2 feet +
a stereo blaring music @ volume 11
=
Deaf by age 35

MYTH: Not all Greek woman have hairy lower backs..

FACT: The percentage ratio of attractive Greek males to Greek females is as follows: Males 5% - Females 95% (this poll had a 5% margin of error)

MYTH: If a performer such as Shakira or an actress such as Demi Moore should happen to make an appearance of ANY kind in Greece, the news stations will devote only one segment of the show to it, rather than THE WHOLE SHOW FOR A WHOLE WEEK.

FACT: Popularity here is not spawned from the most expensive clothes or nice car, but rather, a thick luscious unibrow, complemented with a healthy cascading waterfall of curly hair on the back (think Slater on Saved by the Bell). Unlike other countries and peoples, Greek males are very firm beleivers in "partying in the front, AND in the back!"

MYTH: You can go sit down at one of the many cafes here in Greece, and order a milkshake for under 5 euros.

FACT: I will be playing soccer on the beach in Crete in about a week from now, and the Greeks WILL find out what Croatian footballing is all about..

Alright, that's enough for now.. ala Conan, please send your angry hate mail to: miamarcakis@hotmail.com *ahem*

As I mentioned before, we finally bought some flights out of here and we leave on the 25th of August. We will fly to Budapest in Hungray and get to stay there for a night, so we plan on taking a nap once we get there, and then touring the city since we have a layover of an entire day and a half.. we totally were not planning on heading up in that direction, but we're definitely going to turn it into a positive.. and really, after all, that takes our "countries travelled to" list from 5 up to 6! Wee!!!

From Budapest we fly into Split on the 26th and are hoping to be beach bums once again for a couple of days until Moma and Papa Rozic arrive and we meet up. We're so excited to see a familiar face.. well, I am anyway, and it's gonna be a blast.
We happened to get a really good flight home as well, departing from Munich on the 19th of September for under $400 Canadian!!! I was quite shocked to find it, but am super happy that I did, as it is a direct flight, and we arrive in Van at 1 in the afternoon.
*sigh* the thought of being at home now is nice seeing as how long we've been away for, but we will remain resolute as there is still much to see and do.

Aight, I think that was most of what I wanted to say for now. Glad to head that Van is finally having some kickass weather, and I hope all of you are enjoying the summa time, when the livin's easy!

Take care kids!!!!
xoxo V

2006-07-23T02:53:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Its been a couple of days since weve posted, but thats because weve really been doing nothing. Everything here in Athens is very expensive. (for three coffees it cost 12 euro)
So were just buying time until we can hit the beaches next Sunday!! And then we can post some more beautiful pictures!
Ok, thats all for now... BYE!
Maria

2006-07-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!!

V here with yet again another installment.. how lucky for you all!
This installment involves a selection of pictures from a day that I will hold very high on the list as one of the most exclusive and special days that I've ever had.. even though I suffered a slight bout of heat stroke, it was so worth it I can't even begin to say..

Ladies, and Gentlemen, I give you.. the Acropolis!!!!!!!

On the walk up the hill, this is one of the two theaters at the foot of the acropolis. This one has been reconstructed, and looks fantastic! As you can see, the stage in it is brand new, and they apparently hold special concerts here during the summer.. we may even get to go to one..

This photo quite naturally needs no explanation.. the Parthenon. Unfortunately, there was lots of scaffolding, which marred the entire sight of it, but its all for the better, and I'm very happy to see that they are restoring it all to withstand another 1000 years hopefully :) Quite awe-inspiring..

Here is a shot of the esteemed "Theatre of Dionysus". For some that have heard me rant about this one during high scool days, forgive me for going through it again, but this theatre was proclaimed to be sonically and acoustically almost perfect when it was in prestine condition way back when.. it is estimated to be able to hold up to 16,000 people. Only 20 isles exist of what was once over 60.. leave it to the Greeks!

This is a shot of some of the slabs that once stood high atop the Parthenon and lined the roof. They were placed into a museum so that they could be better contained and protected. These slabs portray a sequence of events ranging from wars to parades, etc.

This is a photo of the Temple of Ericthaeon. The special feature of this temple is the addition of the porch that protrudes from the back of it, where the ceiling is held up by 5 sculptures of greek maidens. These sculptures were replaces with newer ones, and the originals can be located in the museum for preservation.. Also, if you anyone is wondering how I know all this, please thank my grade 11 greek mythologies teacher.. moving on!

This is a refurbished Stoa located in the ancient agora, just north west of the acropolis. It gives a good idea of just how large these buildings were way back when. Although all of the columns were rebuilt and replaced, its still quite a sight when up close.

And lastly, (even though it was taken firstly) this is the remains of the Temple of the Olympian Zeus.. located not exactly on the acropolis naturally, since you can see the acropolis in the background..

One thing that I love I think the most about being in Europe are the endless allies and streets.. I found this one quite peaceful and beautiful for some reason, and had to snap this shot..

And there you have it.. (it being not a dent in the 120 photos taken on the day) It's been amazing being here in Athens and I am quite looking forward to going on the island and getting my behind back in the sun where it belongs..

Will post again soon, but hopefully not too soon, as we're having a great time and always looking forward to the next day. Take care everyone and enjoy the pics!

xoxox V

2006-07-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yiasou!!

V here again with a couple of shots for you avid blog readers!
We went for a "frappe" last night to one of the more posh cafes here in Athens and these photos certainly don't lie..

The first two are of the absolutely stunning views that we got atop the mount while sipping on a coffee and enjoying the breeze.. being here in Athens has been nothing short of amazing and I can't wait to go to Crete, Tripoli, and especially the acropolis.. you all can expect a ridiculously huge post for that occasion!

The last shot is Maria's cousin Maria.. easy enough to remember I reckon :)

So yeah.. just a small update.. but be sure to keep tuning in!!

xoxox V

2006-07-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

Yiasou!

We have MADE IT! FINALLY!

I didn't quiiiite know what to expect coming here to Greece.. but lemme tell you, I could not love this place more.. and I haven't even started to tour the city!

We had a long ass trip to get here. We left Bangkok at 12:45am and flew to Cairo, Egypt.
We got off the plane at 6am (there) and upon arriving in the terminal, we met a man that asked us if we wanted to get an on arrival visa and go tour the Pyramids (since we had a 5 hour layover) At first it sounded too good to be true since we were discussing on the plane how cool it would be to go and get to see the sights really quick.. this was exactly what we were hoping for right?? Welllll we started thinking about how if it seems too good to be true it usually is, and to top it all off, my camera bag was in my backpack that was not on me and in the plane, so we decided that all together , it just didn't seem like a good idea.. specially if something happened to our transportation and we got stuck without a way to get back to the airport.. we couldn't jeopardize our trip, so we decided against it. Which sucked, cuz 5 hours in an airport is pretty lame after flying for 8 hours, and then having to take another 2 hour flight.. grrrr.

ANYways, after our flight into Greece, we went on the metro right outside and took it into town. The transportation here is brilliant and new since they built all of it for the games just two years ago.. very handy and it took us a mere ten minute drive from Maria's Grandma's home.

Once we got here we were met with open arms.. not of many though, only her cousin Maria who was sweet enough to prepare for us a chicken and potato lunch.. what a darling girl! It was so good, and we scarfed it down as all we had to eat for the prior 12 hours was airline food.
The time difference is only 5 hours, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.. so much so that by 7:30 last night my eyes were shutting and I could barely keep awake. I had a nice long sleep and the house is absolutely beautiful. I will post pictures for you all to see soon enough!

We plan on relaxing for a couple of days and then trying to see the sights of the city. Everything here in Athens seems to be within close vicinity of each other, so getting around hopefully won't be too big of a problem.. the only forseeable issue here is that everything here costs a whole lot more than we've been used to unfortunately. :( Going to have to start being very careful with what we're spending.
In any event, I'm very excited to be here and glad that we made it safe. Thanks for the comments everyone, and hopefully you're all doing great! Mom, check your EMAIL!

Aight, love you everyone!
Vlad

2006-07-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. So its our last days in Bangkok and were a little sad. This country has been so wicked to us. (except for a few hiccups, but thats bound to happen anywhere! )
We have shopped our little hearts out. Vlad has definitely won the contest. They fashion here is so much better than in Canada. He went all out and i dont blame him!! (im very happy with his purchases, he looks awesome!) I didnt do so poorly myself!!
So last thoughts of Asia:
We are sooo happy that we came here. Its been really amazing to get out into the world and see what other people live like. It makes you appreciate what you have and where you came from so much more. And seeing a different religion and food and colour of people... everything has just been so wonderful. It was such a pleasure to quit our jobs and just GO! I wanted to badly to get the heck out of Canada and I would have regretted it if we backed out. It makes you really believe in yourself and what you can accomplish (anything really!!) At first, all of these doubts plague your mind. How you will get around, how you will live, eat, sleep etc, but once you get past the jet lag and things become clearer (like the view of the beach) it all just makes sense. Foggy and sticky and hot, it all makes sense why you made the move to trapse around another country with not knowing the language and not knowing anyone, in what seems, the whole world!! But we have really felt like we did Thailand RIGHT. There are other places we want to see, but we have so much time and so much more confidence about travelling.
Its all coming to a quick end, and we are very excited to welcome feta, souvlaki, and more beaches as our tans are fading SO FAST!! It almost looks as if we never were in Thailand for two months!!EEK!~
So yeah, all is well with us. bye bye to the land of smiles!!
Love Mia...

2006-07-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

So since nobody posted, I can only assume that you all care not for our non-picture posts.. well FINE..

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Sukothai!

We started EARLY (7:00) this morning, and since today is a national holiday in Thailand, we got in for free.. BOO YEAH! (that one goes out to Monika, who has so lovingly been using it as of late)
This actually is outside of the ancient city, but it deserves fair mention.. it is a Wat, left out amongst a bunch of urban housing.. quite a treat that our Tuk Tuk driver thought we would like... annnnnd we did! Onward...

Okay, I admit, I didn't quite show Sukothai with that first shot, but this mes amis are the creme de la creme. 7:30am, not a single tourist around, and the whole ancient city to ourselves.. this is a shot of the main part of what is left. Sukothai's ruins are (apparently) much better preserved than those at Ayuttaya, and more intricate. We were blown away just walking through here.. as you can see, it is a marvel to look at just in picture form.. add in the atmosphere of a cool, not yet sun warmed breeze running across your face in a serine woody plain. Aghhhh too nice! Maria was claming that she wasn't sure if she was still asleep, or if it was a dream..

This is a good example of just how nice of an area it was.
The landscape was full of green grass, swaying trees and ancient relics that you just cannot find anywhere else. What a perfect way to finish off our tour of this marvelous country.
Of course, these were my thoughts, BEFORE we got on the 10 hour bus ride from hell.. tee hee >:(
At least there was no freaking Karaoke!

I think words are kinda unnecessary.. feast your eyes :D

Again, words aren't quite needed to describe me being a dumbass and pretending to be flying on a bike with it's kickstand out.. bravo!

Naturally we have tons more photos, but if you wanna see then you'll just have to be present at our coming home party. What, you thought the Rozics would only have the party for our departure?? Seeing as how we'll be joing up with Mama and Papa Rozic, I think a festa is in order, no?

So yeah, after Sukothai, we found ourselves on a bus for a verrrry long time. Since its a holiday here, buses and trains are all packed to the gills, and people from all over Thailand have been pouring into Bangkok to get back for whatever it is they do tomorrow. We're very beat up, but our spirits are still high, and we're looking forward to grabbing a good night sleep and (cracks knuckles) some SHOPPIIINGGGGGGGGG ahahahahahahaha.
I was hoping that Maria would cut my shoping frenzy at the neck, and me her, but its kinda turned more into her and I scheming in what else we need to get while we're here. She is a lovely gal I might say :D

Greece here we come!! We have a map and we're comin to raise hell.. don't worry rents, we have reception, and you will hear from us before we take off. Talk to you all soon!! XOXOX

V & M

2006-07-10T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hello everybuuuuudy!

We've currently held up in a Sukothai, after a full day's travel by train, and then bus, and then bus, and then very very small tuk tuk.. but finally, we have a room and have made it to the outskirts of the old city. Problem is that since today was a holiday, the bus lines are absultely STACKED with people wanting to travel... what that means to us?? Well, we need to be back in Bangkok by this Friday, and preferably, stay for a few days so that we can "cough cough" shop... some more.. again... *cough cough*
EVERY bus and train to Bangkok is FULL UP.. except for one, at 11AM.. naturally we jumped on it, and so we have literally to get up at 6am, have breaky, drive to the old city, rent bikes and scope it out, drive back, take a shower, pack up and get back to the bus depot to drive back to Bangkok by 11.. yeow.

Anyways, that said we are a little frazzled tonight, and went a little lavish with our accomodation for the one night here.. we could use a good night sleep since we've been moving all day from 8:30am till 7:30pm.

*sigh*.

I predicted to a Thai man in Chiang Mai that Italy would win, and he gave me a neckace made out of elephant tusk, just cuz he beleived in France.. since Italy won, I get to keep it.. now I just have to find a way to convince myself that its okay for me to wear it.. that may be quite difficult. :(

Anyways, here's Maria.. I'll write and post more pictures in the coming days once we are in BangKOK!
<3 V

So youre probably all wondering why we havent posted for days and days!! (well, we hope you would noticE)
I had been sick for the past few days. Came down with something wierd. Feverish, achey and tummy achey. Ive realized that one day (all day) in bed cures me!! So im cured. Thank goodness. Our room was so comfortable that we didnt feel homesick at all and that is one of my theories as to why we dont post when were comfortable. We post the most when were homesick. But we had a wicked time in Chiang Mai, the lady at our guesthouse was the BEST!! She was so sweet that we bought her flowers for being so nice and she almost cried. It was so cute. And then this morning she stood at the gate and waved goodbye forever (like mamas do!!) She was definitely one of our favourite people on this whole trip. If youre ever in Chiang Mai, Kritsada guesthouse is the ONE!

Hmm, what else have we done you ask?? I dragged Vlad to see Simon Cabaret. AKA ladyboy dragshow!! YAY!!it was entertaining at the very least!!
We ate a LOT of verry good food at the night market every night so we got our fill before we leave. Had wonderful pineapple and other great fruits.
WEeeee....
Also, we went to the wonderful weekend market. We purchased a few choice items, very excited about that. there was so much awesome stuff there and CHEAP CHEAP!! (as they say)
So our Asia trip is coming to a close very soon here. Weve been reminiscing about what an amazing time weve had and how lucky we've been with travelling and the people here have been wicked. So what are some of your favourite of our adventures?? we'd like to hear!! ( i sound like a radio station asking for feedback, but its true!!)
Ok, time for bed, but well keep updated with your comments...
Love everyone... xoxo mia

2006-07-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

Whuttttsssss uppppppp everyone!?!?!?

So Maria mentioned that she wanted to post some pics today, but she forgot to mention the lack of decent internet cafes in our area. There are a couple, but as someone who knows a thing or two about computers, I wouldn't try uploading pictures on a computer that is practically older than me.. soooooo maybe we'll save it until we get back to Bngkok, or better yet Greece..

The good news however is that Chiang Mai is absolutely beautiful, and we really like it here. Mia coined it to be her favorite place to be so far, and I would be hard pressed not to agree.. specially considering the absolutely KICKASS place that we got ahold of for a skyrocketing $9/ night.. which of course includes brand new furniture (honestly.. like, they just built the building and furnished it, and I'm pretty sure my head is the first to be on the pillow) a big fridge, new wardrobe, TV, and very nice bathroom.. it makes it so much nicer when you're staying in a nice quite comfortable space, specially after having to live through the roosters every morning, singing sweet music along with te sound of pickaxes, drills, and power-saws. (Dad, I dunno how you did it with those roosters.. I can't get their sound out of my head!)

So anyways, today we went to explore a little bit of Chiang Mai. We went to a couple of musems and got a chance to see a bit more of the city. Its definitely not what both of us expected initially, but we're very happy that we had a chance to come here. On monday, we'll be taking a train ride down to a place called Phitsanolouk, where we will be catching a bus and going to see a place called Sukhothai. It was once the home of the capital of the first thai empire, and te ruins are apparently quite amazing, so we thought it would be a good way to spend our last couple of days.

We are SO EXCITED TO GO TO GREECE! I'm particularily excited that I get to meet Mia's fam, on top of seeing the country and experiencing it with my lovely greekette at my side to get me outta trouble :)

So with that, I bid to you all good-day... glad to hear that the weather is nice and summer is finally arrived in our fair city.. get out there and ENJOY IT!

Talk to you all in a couple days..
V & M

2006-07-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I know we havent written for a couple of days, but were in Chiang Mai and we love it here. Its just a quick post as i only have 5 minutes for today, but we found a STEAL of a guesthouse. Well post some pics tomorrow, but were ok, we love it here and were going to see Pirates Of The Carribean in an hour! YAY! So hope everyone is well. ONLY 10 DAYS TILL SOUVLAKI!
Love mia

2006-07-03T03:55:00.000-07:00

Good day everyone!

So its our LAST day here in Laos, and though the people have been excellent, and our time very nice, we are definitely excited to make our way back to Thailand. In fact, we're very excited to leave South East Asia.. not because we aren't enjoying ourselves here, but rather that we are looking forward to seeing familiar faces again. As sappy as it sounds, it really is difficult being so far away from all of you.. even if w are in places that are so naturally beautiful with all the time in the world.

Tomorrow we will be flying to Chiang Mai, and we're sooo looking forward to it. Laos has been good, but staying in the same place for over a week gets a little tiring. I wish we had more money in our pockets, because we could have really explored Laos alot more. I really like it here after I take everything into consideration. The food, the people, the hospitality, the scenery... it really is a (mostly) undiscovered jewel.

Here are a couple more shots for ya'll..

This is a good show of the landscape in the area.. vey green and mountainous. Aint is just gohhhhhgeous?

K, seriously.. how cool is this pic?? Mia and I plan on framing this one when we get back..

Here is a shot of the Pak Ou Caves that we travelled (2 hours by boat) to go see today.. its like a graveyard for old Buddah artifacts. This is the lower level of the caves and you can see how far they stretch back into the rock.. super cool!

This is the best offering of a clear shot that I can give of the upper cave, as we are literlly 40 feet inside solid rock, and its PITCH black, aside from the light pouring in from the front gate.. it was such a trip.. it felt like I was in Tomb Raider!

This is a nice shot of the far side of the Mekong, and a small village amidst some nice scenery. This is the horrible sight that we had to look at for our boat trip down the river. Just dreadful really :P

Alright.. seeing as how its our last night, we're going to go and grab a bite and say toodle-loo.

To ther rents, we will be calling very soon, since we will most certainly have reception once we're back in Thailand.

Love you all and take care..

P.S. We're also very excited to show you guys the sweet stuff that we bought you! HAHA!!

2006-07-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Were officially bored. (i think for the first time in awhile!!)
Luang Prabang is veeerry slow paced, and i think 9 days is too much in one place!!
So myleft foot started swelling last night, and this morning both of them are swollen and i can walk very well! I am a cripple. So hopefully with some elevation and hydration, they will go back to normal .. they hurt enough that when i stand on them, they are uncomfortable. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know!!

Hmm... so what have we been up to you ask?? Well, not a heck of a lot. Vlad and i have been in rough shape for a total of 4 days. (2 for me and 2 for him) and unfortunately, they happened consecutively, one after the other. Our stomachs have been the culprits. Vlad and i have opposite problems though.
Lets just say... Vlad ate fruit, yoghurt and granola for the first time in his life and it was pretty awesome!! His face was PRICELESS!!. Unfortunately i didnt have a camera with me.
But for all of you that know Vlad really well.. he's not the granola munching type. It was AWESOME...
So our plans for the next 3 days are as follows:
Today we are going to try and walk up Phou Si (yes, insert laugh here) hill, hopefully my legs will be forgiving. Then tonight we will do our souvenir shopping because everything here is much cheaper than in Thailand. (so if you have any requests, get them in NOW!)
Tomorrow we will take a slow boat to Pak Ou caves. And stop on the way to several other villages along the way. And then tomorrow evening we will go and see a traditional Lao dance and ballet thing. I dont know what it entails, but we shall write about it later!!
Other than that, weve just taken it REALLY easy.
We went to "Le Cinema" a couple of days ago. Its this guesthouse that has rooms set up with pillows and a big mat on the floor with surround sound and a television. You choose the video and away you watch. So we saw "The Matador". It was very entertaining. Pierce Brosnan rules.
Out couple friends left a few days ago, but theywere a lot of fun. Claudia and Patrick. Great conversation and very entertaining!
Anyway, thats about all for now. We will keep everyone posted.
And by the way...

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!! ( we miss it kinda...)
love and lots of hugs...
Mia (and Vlad)

2006-06-29T04:17:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! We apologize for not posting sooner, but we've been pretty low and lazy lately, enjoying the cool nights and slow movements of Luang Prabang.

Without too much fuss, here's some photos! :)

Here is the lovely Maria whilst our bike ride posing in front of the foliage that is all over this place. Its still very hot, but the air is fresh, unlike Bangkok where it most certainly is not!
It's nice to be able to finally ride BICYCLES around a town.. everywhere we've been only ever hires out motorbikes.. quite a shame since you can see so much more while biking!

This is a good example of the kind of houses people here have. I beleive this particular one is a guesthouse, not very different from one that we're staying in. Luang Prabang definitely makes you feel very at home, like you're in a small town outside of Vancouver.. very cool!

While Wat hunting yesterday, we saw many buddahs, as to be expected. This one stood out as it was all alone in the corner of the property, and basically deserted. It's so peaceful to be able to just kneel down in front of a huge statue like this and let your mind roooooam....

Here is a (blurry) shot of the night market that happens here every day.. people literally set up and tear down this market that occupies a full two blocks of road, and is shut down to traffic. Most of the vendors sell the same stuff, but for ridiculously cheap! We plan on doing this up in a couple days, when we decide what we really like ;)

What do you get when you cross a Croat, a Frenchie, a German, some Dutchies, and a Greek?? This picture! (since I built it up so nicely) We sat down at the lovely Nazim Indian restaurant and stocked up on butter chicken and masalaaaaa..

There is another photo that goes with this one, but it's totally Rated R.. if you're really nice, mayyyybe you'll get a looksy.
Basically, in Laos, they don't beleive in "change" (DAMN PENNIES! HA!) and their currency is entirely bills.. funny thing is that each of these bills equals about $2.. since we exchanged enough to sustain ourselves for a week, they gave us HUGE stacks.. totally feel like a millionaire here!

Hope you all enjoy the pics! Parents, we're doing grand, and looking forward to talking with you guys soon! Mom and Kath, expect an email next time around, and to the rest of the fam, hope you're doing well.
To everyone else, we MISS YOU!!!! Hope everyone is doing okay, and hope we're still in your thoughts because you're all in ours!

Aight, I'm out.. l8a!
V

2006-06-25T02:42:00.000-07:00

WERE IN LAOS!!
Its really beautiful and we arrived this afternoon. We have a cute little guesthouse right near the river. But as Vlad put it... " WE CANT GO SWIMMING IN THERE! THERE ARE PIRANNAHS AND STUFF! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING"
So that cut down my dreams of going for a dip in the river... SHHOT DOWN!!
But our cell phone doesnt work here, so sorry parents, but we will have to phone you!! We tried!! Were gonna be here for 9 days and its gonna be nice!! The weather here is a lot more forgiving than Bangkok was. Plus, no pollution! yay.
Anyways, the purpose of this blog is to let everyone know that were ok!!
I had a missing home day again today. But alas, this is our travelling part of our lives and we must go on!! Did we mention GREECE IN 3 WEEKS ! YAY!!
ok bye. peacelovehugatree
mia

2006-06-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

So were still here in Bangkok and its been quite the adventure, although once again, we are ready to leave and have another change of pace. Its amazing, but one week somewhere has proven to be more than enough!!
Weve done some interesting things while here. Its quite the city. Weve seen the Grand Palace as Vlad mentioned, weve seen aquariums and museums and hmm.. lots of rain!!
Luang Prabang is 2 days away and we are VERY excited!! Hopefully there will be sun and we can go suntan at a park or something! Here are some more pictures to keep you all going.

<-- Heres me and Nemo. Were buddies, didnt you know? Good times...

<-- Toni, this is for you! In the Emerald Buddah temple there are all of these amaaazing paintings on the walls, with gold and mother of pearl.. Really beautiful!

<-- This is at the Grand Palace. The demons and monkeys are holding up this stupa. They are decorated with coloured glass and the stupa is gold plated i believe! (there is another one that is solid gold and its HUGE)

<-- Last night we watched the breakdancers practice at the skytrain station. It was pretty cool and you get a glimpse why they call it Break dancing.

<-- same thing

<-- Heres me and Vlad in our hotel room. Nuff said.

So to continue... yesterday at the Grand Palace we finally felt what it is to be a victim of some form of racism. Because were white, or foreign for that matter, we had to follow a whole bunch of rules that the Thais dont have to. RIDICULOUS.. Let me paint a picture.

We enter the Palace and there are people all around. Its a huge tourist attraction. Right away, because Vlad was wearing shorts and i was wearing a tank top, we were told to go into this line. Basically, we had to borrow clothes to enter the palace. So we wait, and get dressed with an extra layer each, only to find that many Thais are wearing shorts, and skirts and open toed shoes. IT SUCKED. Then we had to pay 250B each to enter (where the Thais get in for free) and then at the entrance where we paid, there were guides bombarding us to buy their services. Another 400B, so we said forget it, we can just read the stupid paper guide and eavesdrop on other peoples guides!! It was definitely beautiful but i dont quite know if it was worth the money and hassle. Then in the evening, we had a wicked Indian dinner in MBK and yet another form of racism happened.
We were watching the breakdancers and Vlad lit up his cigarette and i guess the skytrain police were watching us and they basically tried to be all friendly asking us where we were from, and so they fined Vlad for throwing his cigarette butt on the floor of the skytrain. Unfortunately, there are no garbages in THAILAND and to look around and find millions of other cigarette butts around. It was just a bad and expensive day.
SOOOO... that brings us to today. We were going to get up early to see Ancient City, but we were just too tired. All this walking around and we have become quite the athletes. We wish we had a pedometer just to see how many km's weve clocked. So thats about it. My hand hurts, so im gonna stop now, i hope this was an entertaining portion!!
Much love... mia

2006-06-22T05:25:00.000-07:00

Well well well.. here we are again with yet another installment of the Vlad and Maria Fantasy Escape.

Today's set of adventues brings us to the heart of Thailand, Bangkok.

Drumroll please....

*Sigh* Here is where Mia and I have been spending all our bloody time. This frigging mall is like a black hole that sucks in everything that comes near.

Good food, cheap internet, video games and tons and tons of shopping. What more could you ask for??

Did I mention also that ALL malls here are ridiculously lavish?!?! Mom you would get lost here for a week before you found the front door :)

Pic of the Siam Station. Once we realized that we couldn't walk everywhere to see the city, we braved it and bought a rail pass. The train doesn't go all over the city, but it did get us to certain parts of the town that we needed to go, like Silom Rd. where we found Egypt Air and other agencies where we could buy our future travel tickets.

Without a doubt, the highlite of the Bangkok trip so far was our trek to the Giant Reclining Buddah. This picture doesn't even do it any justice at all.. it is HUGE. Walking into the temple and witnessing the sheer size of this piece of work leaves you breathless. We could only stand and stare to try and take in the magnitude of what we were looking at. It was truly one of the most humbling moments that I've had so far..
Obviously this is about 1/10th of the full size..

...and here is the rest of it!

We also took a day out of our time here to visit the Grand Palace, located right next to the Temple housing the Buddah shown above. This is apparently where the King lives.. not too shabby at all if I do say so myself..

So I did just try and upload a buncha other pics, but this blogger site is a piece of junk and it won't recognize the pictures like its done sooooo many times now.. rest assured I will post more of them very soon, probably next chance I'm online.

To give a quick update, we have all our tickets set up, and we're ready to fly! This sunday we'll take off and travel to Luang Prabang in Loas, and from there after a week to 10 days we'll find our way to Chiang Mai, all in the Northern parts of the countries.

We'll keep you all posted.. also, we have cell phones, so if any of you want to keep in touch with us via SMS, send us your phone numbers and we will message you, and then you reply etc..

Take care everyone, and keep posted.. more to follow very soon!

Much love, Vlad and Mia!

2006-06-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH MY GOD!! WE GOT CELLPHONES~!
We are the happiest campers right now.
Weve arrived in Bangkok (obviously) and i have to tell you, this time around is so much more enjoyable!! Were staying in the Siam Square area. Its nice. At night time there are a whole bunch of activities , like people practicing break dancing, and dj;s. Its neat. The mall is insane. It makes Metrotown look.. well, weve discussed this before, so no need again!
Yesterday we went and took the skytrain around and we got caught in the biggest rain storm. Ive never seen rain like this.. actually, i have. When the whole of White Rock beach flooded. Its like that.
Were going to tour Chinatown today. Apparently they have a huge Indian area with food and sweets. All i can say is ... YEAH!
Its raining again so we have to buy a huge umbrella so that we arent hampered by the rain.
hmm. what else.. Were going to buy our tickets to Athens today too. And get our Visas for Laos. SO MUCH TO DO!! Well, this is just a quick update, so i better be going now. miss you all...
xoxo
mia

2006-06-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Hello from Bangkok once again!

We had a busy day today.. spent the morning travelling and now we have left Phuket and made our way back to the capital Bangkok. And MAN did it start with a BANG!

The flight was very good.. took us a while to get to the airport, but once we did it was smooth sailing. Much nicer to get to Bangkok in an hour as opposed to 12 by train. In fact, we would have had to drive by bus to Surat Thani and THEN train, which would have taken wayyyyyyyyy too long. So we paid the money and made it here in a flash.

Upon arriving, we took the 29 Bus into town to find a place to stay. We found a charming little guest house (pretty cheap @ 400b/12CAN a night) and plan to stay for a couple of nights while we really do Bangkok the way we should. We're right across the road from the ominous Siam Square and MBK mall. It's really hot here at the moment, and thank heavens we have a room with A/C yet again. I dunno how these Thais do it without it!

So as the day progressed, we simply could not contain our excitement to get back in the mall and grab some grub. The food court is sensational! They have Hong Kong Cuisine, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Italian, you name it.. all for dirt cheap! I have to take some shots in this mall the next time we find ourselves wandering aimlessly around.. it's cavernous.
After we grabbed some food, we found our way to the (duh duh DUN) Cell phone floor. I will be the first to admit, I'm not the biggest cell phone fanatic out there.. in fact I find it kinda weird how people are so gaga over them, and how they can bury their head into a screen that's this big [_____________].. but now my friends.. I beleive I understand a bit more.

As mentioned in my last post, I wanted to introduce you to my new phone the Samsung d820.. I wanted it, and now I DO HAVE IT!!!! YESSSSSSSS!!!!! This phone is KILLA. I got it 2nd hand, and saved quite a bit off of it.. its visibly used, but works perfectly, and seeing as how good of a price I got on a very new model phone, I'm quite excited. Mp3, Video, Pictures, 1.3m camera, Bluetooth.. man the works.. and its so purdy and slidy and black... DAH I wanna use it right now!
Anyway, so now we're on the hunt for Mia's phone the 6270.. also a very nice phone. Not quite as slim as the one I bought, but Mia has been branded by Nokia so she can't resist clearly. I don't blame her, this phone also totally rocks and she's very excited to make the purchase. She will be trying to get hers new since 2nd hand for her is not an option. She talked one guys price down a fair bit.. we're probably going to go and pick it up from him tomorrow maybe for even cheaper.

That said, now that we're here in Bangkok with a place to stay, we'll be able to really see the sights. We're very excited as this city has TONS of history, and its time to really fill up the memory in my camera. Getting around the city is pretty difficult actually, because the traffic is a zoo ALL THE TIME. I don't understand how a city of this size can have next to no traffic regulations.. no visible crosswalks, or very few at least.. not that they matter.. people would run you over and drive off either way I'm sure.
Still though, there is lots to do here and we're glad that we came since we are more prepared to tackle it now. We're also very eager to move on to Luang Prabang as its a lot slower and we'll be able to rent bicycles and ride around the small nit city. *sigh* life is rough.

Anyways, that's all we have to say for now.. hope everyone is doing aight, and we'll continue updating as we have been. Moms, we'll call in a couple days, and to everyone else, hope you're all good and thank you for your comments.
P.S. Zsa, what do you think about our first parcel?? We'd love to hear what your reaction was!!

Aight, peace everyone ;)
V & M

2006-06-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!! From the land of nod and rain...
So its been raining here on and off (mostly on) for 2 days now and we only have tomorrow to play at the beach!! Plus, there are so many tourists here, ive decided that i dont really like patong beach. Stupid Falangs everywhere. Does anyone know what a falang is??

Farang (in Thai: ฝรั่ง), pronounced falang, is the generic Thai word for a white foreigner. It is closely related to the Khmer word Barang. Africans or African-Americans will be occasionally referred to as farang dam (black farang, in Thai: ฝรั่งดำ). While generally farang is a neutral word, it can be used as an insult depending on its context. For instance, the expression "farang ta nam khao" (in Thai: ฝรั่งตาน้ำข้าว, which literally means farang with rice-milk-colored iris) would be considered an insult.

Falang in Mia and Vlads dictionary , aka. fat dirty old man, ugly old man, discusting fat old ugly man, you get the idea. Refers to all the gross white fat old men who walk around with Thai prostitutes on their arms, who clearly cannot seem to find companionship on their own without payment. Its really really REALLY gross. We cant stand it.

Another thing thats getting on my nerves is the people selling stuff. We cant walk on the street without getting BOMBARDED with people trying to sell us stuff for the nth time we walk down the same street in one hour. (or even minute) So ive devised a plan, every time someone is agressive in trying to sell us something (and they most often are) im going to .,... get this...
HIGH FIVE THEM!!
I did it once already and it totally throws them off! Then they just are so flabbergasted that you high fived them that they stop talking. If you cant beat em, join em! Plus, them + PMS + being slightly short tempered already = HIGH FIVE!! (its brilliant)

So we have just two more days here in Patong, bless the waves which we decided that although its raining , we still should go and play in today, and tomorrow if the weather still sucks. But im happy were going back to Bangkok where theres so much to do, and plus, were gonna buy our phones there. Ive decided on a Nokia 6270. Its quite nice. http://www.europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,,75912,00.html
It will cost me a bit, but with that, I wont have to buy an mp3 player because it has one built right into the phone. Its very nice.

Were both excited to keep moving. Plus, there will be more of a choice of food with the night markets being everywhere in Bangkok. (theres not much choice here) YAY for moving on!!
And may I mention, I love the fact that you all posted comments. its wicked.
Love and miss everyone very much. xoxoxo
mia

....

K now my turn!

Pics to start it off.. cuz you know that's how I roll.. *note* obviously we have way more pics than this, but these are just a couple of shots to show what we've been up to or where we are staying etc.. plus it takes a while to upload and I'm a very lazy man.. soooooo

While in Phuket Town (not there anymore) we went out of the city a fair ways to visit the Phuket National Museum. It was practically deserted, and we had the whole place to ourselves.. it was quite marvelous though! We got a bunch of shots of ancient weopons as well as relics, statues, pottery, etc. Here is a statue of Buddah dated to be about 800 or so years old.. found in Sukothai which was the capital city of the first Thai Empire.

Here we have a picture of the back of my head.. ordinarilly a shot like this is only moderately interesting.. however, after I went and got the BEST HAIRCUT I HAVE EVER GOTTEN EVERRRRRR, we felt it appropriate to take many pictures as well as video so that I can get it done like this all the time..

Here we have a shot of a fairly large fish that we saw at the Phuket Aquarium. It was quite a nice visit as they have quite a wide variety of animals both large and small.. it was very cool to see so many different types of fish and sea life in one place!

And here I was under the impression that Mia had gotten her fill of Starbucks in Canada.. but sure enough, once she saw the big green circle, her vision was blurred with sights of espresso and foam, and she had to take the plunge.

This is a shot from the balcony of our room in Patong Beach, where we are currently staying. Not a bad location really.. very close to the beach, and right in the center of town. Lots going on round these parts, and we're getting a little sick of the harassment. But all in all, a good place to see and I'm glad we came, even if the missus isnt.. tee hee!

Ohhhhh baby.. this is what its all about. The food here, ugh.. I can't even speak of the deliciousness. This is a plate of fried rice/chicken, with a plate of Green Curry/Chicken. Meals like this make being in Thailand a real treat, and food like this can be found all over the place for dirt cheap.
MMMM spicy!

Oh, and also, for anyone who's interested, say hello to Vlad's new cell phone!

Pretty aint she!?!? Can't wait to hook this baby up when I gets home!

Anyways, with that, I hope I have filled the craving for photos, and hopefully I'll be able to throw a couple more on once we get to Bangkok and really do it proper. We'll be going back on Saturday and taking care of some loose ends.

Mom, I hope that you opened up the package and like the stuff that we purchased!
I have gone for my fitting for the shirts that I'm having made and they fit perfectly and look awesome.. We'll be sending some clothing back as well, probably tomorrow afternoon, so that we don't have to carry it all around. Tonight Mia will be getting her last fitting, and tomorrow all of our stuff will be ready.. fun fun fun!!

Alright, I think that is a long enough post.. love you all and we'll talk again soon..as mentioned, we love the comments.. pleassssse keep em coming!!!

V

2006-06-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

GO CROATIA GO!!!!!

I have to admit, I'm not as positive about tonight's game as I could be that's for sure.. I am certainly trying though to stay positive and hopefully Croatia will give me a reason to go and celebrate on Bang La road!

So right now my lovely lady and I are nestled comfortably in a small inn off of the main stretch in Patong Beach.. it is in the Southwestern part of Phuket Island, and one of the many beach residences strewn out in the area. Other stretches of beach are Kata, Karon, and one that is now eluding me. In any event, much to our suprise, we've discovered that this area has so much more to it than Puket town.. We almost struggled to find a place in Phuket Town, and you would figure that a city like atmosphere would provide more options. This place is a whole other ball game. I've seen more aussies, germans, chinese, and thai he-shes here than anywhere else. And lemme tell you, when they shut down Bang-La road from traffic, after 10pm its a brew-ha-ha-ha0oooooooo-ha.. the streets are littered with people walking all over the place, merchants selling their wares, and people falling over onto the sidewalk drunk as skunks.. quite amusing..

At first I was a little concerned as to how a whole bunch of people that pack these little bars could stay ruly.. apparently its not too much of a problem.. everyone seems to be having fun and lettin the good times roll. The aussies went completely bonkers last night with the late 3-1 victory over Japan.. whatta game!! Maria's already getting fed up with me and soccer, but to her I simply say "PSH".. Its WORLD CUP BABY!!!!! :D

We've really enjoyed it here so far at Patong, and we're really finally starting to feel a lot more comfortable here in Thailand. Mia's even started to eat more Thai food, which I was sketipcal would happen at first. Not that she doesn't like the spice, more just that she's not a huge meat fan. However, lately, we've had some of the best meals that 5 dollars can buy. Yes, we've had meals like whole crab in green curry paste, fried rice and mixed vegetables, and chicken and red curry with sides of rice and beer for .. get this.. 7 dollars. And though the food is cheap, it is nothing short of completely and utterly delicious.. smelling fingers after 7 hours and they still smell like curry is a treat I will surely miss.

We feel a little bad that we hadn't figured this out sooner.. "eat where the Thais eat" is our newly discovered mantra. The food is fantastic, and we constantly are finding new places to score awesome dishes.. Dad, the squid is plentiful, and when they serve it up simmered with Garlic and Pepper, you'd think you died and gone to heaven. YEOW!

Also, since we've been here, we finally have caved and decided to do a little shopping. We had planned to save this until we got to Chiang Mai, as they apparently have the best wares, and we beleive, best prices. While walking around town, we discovered the "Paradise Market".. now, most of these shops all carry the same sort of things.. if you want plates, shoes, billabong shirts (oh my god.. enough with the Billabong). We decided to go and take a look at one of the 1,576,392 Tailor shops that line the streets of Thailand, to see what kind of stuff we could get tailor made for us. I'm proud to announce that I stood my ground in the face of high prices, and decided not to succumb to the temtation of paying too much for a couple shirts and/or an overcoat. Unfortunately, I couldn't save myself and Maria at the same time... I had to let her go. And GO SHE WENT!!.. Check this.. she managed to grab a *custom made* blouse, pair of pants, and overcoat, made with silk/cashmere for $100 Canadian. Moms, you have to hand it to us.. that is a smashing deal. We just came from fitting #1, and we have to go back at 10:30 tonight for the fitting of the pants. Mia's super excited, and I am too because she is going to look stunning in these new threads. For me, I found another tailor that boasts on the front door "5 shirts - $70". I'll be making a stop there on the way back from here to "do business", and hopefully I won't be paying $70 ;)

Oh, and I almost forgot.. as someone who has never really gone surfing or boogie boarding, I've never had the privilege of playing at a beach where there is a lot of surf crashing in constantly.. well that all changed today when we headed for the beach about 2 minutes from our room.. man oh man, I didn't think it could be so fun splashing around like an idiot in the water, but today I found out that I still have a whole lotta kid left in me.. and I'm turning 25 this year?? Bah.. can't be true.

Anyways, I will be posting pics again in the next few days once we get to a computer that I can do so on. To sum up our upcoming travel, we have booked our tickets from Phuket Airport to Bangkok for this Saturday, and plan to spend about a week in Bangkok. From there we have also booked our flight to Luang Prabang in Laos, and are totally stoked for yet another change of pace. After that, we will be making our way back to Thailand, and head lastly up to the North to Chiang Mai, which we're also very excited about. Once we finish there, we head down to Bangkok, and on the 15th of July leave this wonderful place to go to another wonderful place.. GREECE!!!! YEAHH!!!!!!! Maria's been getting me hugely excited about the Acropolis which I'm absolutely DYING to see, and to eat all that the Greeks have to offer.. thank god for my abnormally high metabolism!!!!!

Aight, I think that should suffice for now.. hope everyone is doing so well, and thanks again for following along with our travels.. it truly makes our day every time that we log on and see all the comments.. keep em up!!

Much Luv & Fisherman's Pants..
Vlad & Mia

2006-06-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

Yooooooo .. Vlad here again with yet another update.. I'm in agreement with Mia, I just can't stay away from you guys! You keep me reminded of how much I love you all and our great city.
(and Maria with everyone in Cowtown as well.. *she made me put that*)

Our past couple days have been quite a whirwind of activity. We found our way off the island of Ko Pha Ngan, and down to the southern most part of thailand to the largest island called Phuket. (If I wrote prior to this post that Samui was the largest, you may send me mail calling me an idiot all you like!)
The first night was a little rough considering that we stepped off of the bus (our tavel time that day took us about 10 hours) and it started to pour. We had to find shelter and quick, as it was getting dark and we were not sure of where to go. We found a small fairrrrly decent place and shacked up for the night. The next morning we walked to a more central area of Phuket Town, and got ourselves a nice room with good view and close to everthing, from the night market, to the cinemas. We plan on staying here for a few days and seeing the sights, and then we're going to make our way to the western part of the island to a place called Patong. This is apparently where the tourists swarm, and the nightlife is plentiful. We're enjoying ourselves obviously beyond words, and don't want it to end!!

We have booked our flight as well, from here to Bangkok, as another trip by bus is completely OUT of the question. Although I usually can handle riding by bus, I admit I was far from preparred for the onslaught of Thai music videos that invaded our ear drums for the entire duration of the trip. Not only were these videos the epitome of fromage, the driver seemed to beleive that everyone in Thailand needed to hear them so he cranked the speakers to 11 for the entire time. I couldn't help but laugh by the end of it. Thank god that they had scrolling lyrics on the bottom in Thai so that Mia and I could sing along.. *smacks head*

From Bangkok, we're going to head to Luang Prabang in Laos. We're totally stoked to see what we can find and will be glad to head somewhere other than Thailand for a change of pace.

That said, here are some more shots for your viewing pleasure.. we will post a video up in a couple days since I can't seem to make anything work properly right now.. clearly I'm losing my touch ;(

We grabbed this shot from the fairy upon arriving at Don Sak terminal, right before our long stretch to Surat Thani, and then Phuket.

This is a shot that I took in Surat Thani, right before we got on our second bus bound for Phuket. Notice the power lines looming in the center of the shot that soooo adds to the authenticity.

Finally in Phuket, this is a shot of the streets below from our 3rd floor suite. It's a cute little hotel like room that only costs us about $15 a night. This is quite cheap compared to some of the prices we've been forced to pay for faaaaar less.

Picture of us about to go to the Night market in Phuket for some "Chicken Fly Lice".. as my Dad used to say ;)
*ps* sorry that these photos are crazy big.. I don't have a program here to make em smaller!

Shot of the stand that we got our delicious dinner from..
The street is literally filled with open air markets that serve fresh fish and meats with rice, noodles, you name it. I have definitely been developing a taste for spice.. mostly because I have no choice what-so-ever. I'm not complaining though.. the food here is nothing short of marvelous.

To give a better idea of the small huts that line the roadway with eats.. places like this is where most of the Thai people eat, and they are very welcoming. All of the shops compete to try and get you to eat at their place.. some of the tactics that they use is pretty funny! When 2 plates of food, and bottle of beer costs you $2.50, you generally will eat almost anywhere though..

And with this once again we are off to explore some more.. well, maybe get some breaky first. We're going to the Museum today and then maybe tonight we'll try and catch a flick. Peter, I got some sand for you from Ko Pha Ngan, and Mom and Kath, I think I finally know what to get you two.. You owe me EMAILS! *waves a finger at you*

Aight, peace everyone ;)

V

2006-06-06T23:21:00.000-07:00

Word up my lovelies..

Mia and I have been good so far, and we're in Thong Sala right now, pretty much waiting on our ferry/bus trip to Phuket.
We spent the last couple of days in a VERY remote location on the North West side of Ko Pha-Ngan called Thong Nai Pan. We found it quite peaceful and unspoiled in almost all senses, however the tradeoff was that it was completely devoid of all necessities that we have enjoyed thus far..
Don't get me wrong people.. take a look..

This is the beach, all-beit at 6AM, but u get the picture. I'd throw some of the ones during the day, but I already backed them all up to a spare minidisc, and cleared them all off my Digicam. Bottom line, I have a couple pics that I took this morning, as well as (dun-dunna-NA!) a video clip!!!!

Pretty much 20 feet in front of our beachside bungalow.. the only problem we had with this beach was.. the bungalow. Although close, it was a rotting old building with shabby workmanship. Maria and I were joking that Mike Holmes would have a field day ripping them all apart with his burly blonde haired bazooka arms. (Maria loves Mike)

Aha!! There they are those wretched mouse holes.. wellll maybe I'm being a tad harsh.. they do come with A/C and what not. The bugs were free of charge.. great deal!
Although there were other options for accomodation, we didn't want to go overboard with spending. The food here was a little less than ideal, and we felt that after 3 days, it was about enough.. whatta beach though!

Unfortunately, there were quite a few more clouds today than yesterday, which made getting a really good shot kinda tough.. this is definitely the cream of the crop though ;)
We'll get more of these in Phuket (I hope). The weather was beautiful, and we can't avoid the sun no matter what we try.. guess we'll have to settle for ridiculous tannage..

Another a couple minutes after ward.. also, below is a link for a small video that I shot with the cam in quicktime format.. only 7mb.. with commentary (he he)

Video: http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=A2B1DB010B8D83DB
(right-click on link and "save-as" - Note: This file expires in one week so get it while its hot!!!)

As mentioned, we are now in Thong Sala, which is the main port on Ko Pha-Ngan. We will be riding by Ferry and then buss tomorrow for most of the day until we reach Phuket. Phuket and surrounding area was where the tsunami hit years ago. We were a little concerned about whether or not it would be ok to travel here, but according to several sources, the land has been thoroughly rebuilt, and travel is no problem at all. We are excited to get back into more of a touristy area, as the island was quite a change. We did enjoy our time here though, and have many pictures to prove it!

That's all for now.. I will post more in Phuket.. here's Mia :)

So all i can say is that im happy were out of the bug bungalow. I like feeling at one with nature, but sharing the sleeping headquarters with mosquitoes and flies and gross other things that i dont know what names they have! eek!
Were on our way to phuket, im happy. We have calculated and weve been here for 17 days. thats a long time! Were doing well!
We still dont really believe were in Thailand. It kind of just seems normal almost at this point. Theres just so much still to do! Were gonna try and make our way to Luang Prabang for sure for a week. I was just telling Vlad that im happy that we are doing this at this time in our lives. Its so difficult to pick up and leave for months at a time, and after you get settled, it just doesnt make sense. Im happy "getting this out of the way" so to speak, at this point instead of a year from now. So anyways, not much else to post at this time. Wish us a happy ride to Phuket.!
love mia and v

2006-06-04T04:40:00.000-07:00

Just a verrry lazy hello from Ko Pha Ngan! So weve made our way to the famous full moon party island. We have decided not to attend the full moon party as it will be too difficult. This island is quite difficult to get around. So difficult, that we actually took an hour long Long Tail boatride. It was verry interesting. So we spent some days at Lamai Beach in Ko Samui, which was quite nice. I really enjoyed it there. I think Vlad did too. But anyway, we decided it was time to pack up again and move to the island of Pha Ngan. (ko is island). When you say the phrase, "beach bum" what comes to mind?
Everything you thought of plus 10X more laziness! We are in a place where you need a boat to get to, mindyou there are some restaurants, but pickins are slim. We like it though. We have a cute little bungalow (no a./c which is unfortunate) but we have a fan. No tv. no bars, no clubs, its pretty funny. All we could find in the loaner items that they have here for beach bummers to read is GERMAN. Did we mention we cant stand german? or germans? Vlad managed to find an English Glamour magazine (with Britney on the front, which isnt bad hey chrissy?)
So all were gonna do here for 3 nights (because it wouldnt be worth the ride here if we only stayed 2) is read, eat, sleep, swim, take showers, drink, look at the beach, swim, look at the sand, swim... ummm. Thats about it.
So we will be very happy to move on by the third day im sure. But not just yet!
We wont post pictures at this time because its too expensive (2 bhat/min as opposed to 1 on the mainer parts) and we are also on dial up, which would take about, oh, 78.5 years. So keep posted for the rest. We will make sure we post as often as we have been though.
Our next planned stop will be Phuket province. Its supposed to be beautiful there, were pretty excited. Were still debating on whether or not to go to Luang Prabang in Laos... well keep thinking! Love you all. We miss yoiu guys too.
xoxox
mia and V

2006-06-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

Hellllllloooooo my darling readers..

We've had to hide in the internet cafe a tad earlier today, as it's around 1:30 in the afternoon, and we seriously cannot stand the heat. Yesterday was bad, but this is even crazier. Even when the sun is behind the clouds, it still feels like my feet are melting away as i'm walking.

Today we'll be poolside, cuz the beach is way to hot to even stand on without sandals, and the pool is even cooler than the ocean beleive it or not.

It's our last day here on Ko Samui. We will be heading to the northern island of Ko Pha Ngan tomorrow in the morning, and hopefully finding accomodation in a quiter part of the island. Apparently the Full Moon Party (that Haad Rin is known for) will be going down on the 11th of June.. this causes prices on the island to shoot up pretty drastically, and we haven't quite decided if we're going to linger around and see what all the hubbub is about, or if we're going to abandon island, and head for the mainland.

Either way, the beach life hasn't quite left our sights as of yet, and we plan on getting all that we can out of it.. we certainly did that with this island, as we travelled all around and saw most of what is here to see.

*gasp*.. ok the pool is calling me.. ciao!

V

2006-06-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Its Mia. I just cant stay away from this blog, i love it.

So its our 3rd day in Lamai. I quite like it here. I think the reason is that we have an airconditioned room and satellite tv which plays movies when we just want to veg. We are definitely spoiling ourselves but hey, its our trip right?

I just wanted to give a big HEY O to Toni, my lovely sister who turns 19 TODAY!! (happy birthday poo)

I hope you all are enjoying sharing our pictures with us as much as we like taking them! Its unfortunate because we didnt have time to post all the pictures we wanted to(vlads a bit of a perfectionist and it took an hour and a half to post the previous post!) But I have to mention the most special place (I feel anyways) was where you saw the pictures of the buddah room (and theres way more than 17) There was this marble buddah that was so spectacular (pics to come soon) It was so Indiana Jones! I felt a very spiritual connection at that place. The Buddah is believed to be hundreds of years old and it is just in such a cool spot. Not only that but there were all of these chedis (bell shaped towers containing five structual elements symbolising from bottom to top earth, water, fire wind and void, they were all of these graves, we will post pics of them too) It was quite the spot, I LOVED IT!

So our plans are kind of coming along. Leona has been mentioning how we should recoinsider going to Laos. Were gonna talk about it for sure, maybe we could go there for a week as well. Or two? Were also getting excited for Greece too. We have so much going on right now its crazy!

Anyways, just thought id say a little hello.

Homesick yet you ask?? A bit. The thing i miss the most is being able to make our own food at home and sleeping in our own BEDS!! (i really am happy i decided to bring my pillow, it has at least made up for a bit of not having my own bed to sleep in! its worth the pain in the ass of trecking it from city to city, beach to beach.)

And i think by the time October comes around, we will both be ready to come home... but not just yet!
mia

2006-05-31T03:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

"Little" update for ya'll.

So we made our way from Chaweng to Lamai, which is Samui's second largest beach. Many people told us that this part of the beach is a tad quiter, and less busy.. although we found that to be partially true, we also found that this part of the island is still quite bussling with people and things to do.
We found ourselves a little pricey of a bungalow, however, it being only 100baht more than what we were paying in Chaweng, and now having A/C (with a remote comtrol!! YEAH!) we're quite happy with it. We're again, within 2 seconds from the beach, which we've found is muuuuch quieter than in Chaweng.

We'll probably just shack up here for a week or so, as Mia really likes it, and we have just too much time on our hands.

Now for some pics.. since that's much funner than just reading what I'ma typin!

This first pic is of our day trip to Angthong Marine Park a couple days ago. we got on a boat and travelled about and hour & 1/2 to remote islands for a day of kayaking, swimming and exploring. This pic shows the inland lake that we caught from the viewpoint way up top of the mountain. Wished we could swim in it, but the guides said it was a no-no.

Picture of us .. obviously ;P

--> This is a shot of the caves that we were kayaking around. Lots of these sorts of overhangs were the water has eroded away the rock.. super cool!

Once we got back to one of the islands, we found a bunch of people gathering around a small hut, only to find these two guys perched up top scampering about.. the dude told us that they are wild, and that the island is full of 'em!

On our way back, we happened to have the one and only Bob Ross paint the sky with clouds for us.. -->

<-- Kath, I know you can appreciate this one.. these kittens are our official guard cats at our bungalow!

<-- one of the Wats that we stopped at, was of a monk that they ended up leaving in the same position as he died, cross legged in the monastary. You can see in behind the sculpture, that his body is still preserved, and seated in the same that it was 20 years ago when he died.

Another wat ->>>

<-- Now THIS was cool.. a guy let us into this very special hidden" buddah room, that has 17 buddah statues from various parts of the world. The biggest one in the back was made in India..

->>

We have more pictures to post, but my back is starting to kill me and I need some food.. we'll post the rest in a couple of days so keep reading!!

Much love to you all, and we'll ttys!

Mia & Vlad

2006-05-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Ahoy hoy!

How ya'll doin?!?!
We're so super! Thanks for asking..

some more pics for you all.. with commentary this time.. BOOYAH

So these photos are obviously just somee flowers that Maria found.. pretty cool foliage in this neck of the woods ;) The smell eminating from these flowers is a sweet melange of fruity and spicy aroma that makes you smile.

We took a trip one day to explore the Island and find all of the wats. Some were pretty hidden away and though there are many of them, we just couldn't get to see them all. We are still going to stay on Samui though, and we're hoping to see some more before we leave.

The first photos are of the Big Buddah, located on the North Eastern tip of Ko Samui, right at the top of a hill. Naturally, we were quite astounded by the shear size of the statue, which sat high atop a set of well decorated stairs. As you can see, the amount of detail and intricacy in the design of the walls, and surroundings of the statues is unparalleled, and quite breath-taking.

Once we left this Wat, we found ourselves going to several other smaller Wats, hidden amongst houses and smaller temples. Some of these Wats were off of small dirt roads that made travelling to very interesting to say the least. Amazingly enough though, regardless of the surroundings, within the gates of these holy properties, the floors are immaculate, and the architecture amazing.

Also, a small shot from the more hilly part of the island. Here you can see far off into the blue horizon that we see every day from the beach at our resort.

And finally, after a long day of Wat Hunting, we felt we deserved a nice little cool off in one of Samui's several waterfalls. The Nu Muang falls has two sections. This picture is of the first section of the two, and was a wonderful place to take a dip. The surrounding were very BCish, with natural woody and stony stairs that led down to the pool. Think Lynn Valley, only tropical!

To end our night off, we hada to make our way back to Maharaja's, cuz seriously guys.. you have not had indian food the likes of this.. Plus the owner (a super cool and well scholared indian man)
decided to sit and talk with Maria and I about all sorts of stuff for the duration of the evening. It was a really neat experience to hear about the island, and humanity around this part of the world. Plus he bought us drinks.. always a good thing!

Tonight we're on our way to bed since tomorrow we'll be heading off (early) to Angthong National Marine park for a day of beach bumming, kayaking, and whether permiting, some snorkling. Should be a blast, but we'll be needing our strength.. enjoy the photos!

Toodles ;)

P.S. If anyone is wondering about an "earthquake" that has happened round here recently, fear not.. this happened down in Indonesia, and we weren't even aware that it occured until we watched the BBC..

V & M

2006-05-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

Hiiiiyooooooo!!

Here we is once again writing from the Island of Tropical Delights, sweaty, sticky, and cherry faced.
Today we'll be going round the island for some touring. Particularily to see all of the "wats" that are around the island. "wats" being the term for "statues" .. I beleive. If not that, then I imagine the term refers to monumental sort of sites.

Here on the island, there are apparently tons of these sites, and today we are devoting to go and check them all out and get some great photos!

We've been spending some time trying to figure out our upcoming travel, both from Bangkok to Athens, which finally seems more feasible thanks to my darling sister (love ya babe!), and from Croatia to Vancouver, which seems utterly hopeless at this exact point.. not much under $2000.. which is a complete farce.

Hopefully, we'll bee able to sort that one out sooner or later. Either way, not gonna let it rain on our very hot and sunny parade. Today is beautiful out. Nothing but clear skies and a slight cooling breeze.. perfect for a ride around the island.

Tonight our plans involve going out for the night.. to a bar called "mint" where DJs spin house and electronica for the sweaty masses. Sounds like a rip roarin party and so long as we don't pass out before 9pm as we have been doin, it should be lotsa fun.

Yesterday we made our way to the Tesco Lotus, which is a little ways out of Chaweng on the main highway. Think Walmart in Lougheed Mall, with far less stores, and a kickass Theatre Complex.
We decided that we couldn't wait to go and see X3, so wa made our way to see Wolverine own the silver screen. It was a pretty stellara movie, and anyonw that knows me, knows that Wolverine owns all and any movie that features him should win multiple oscars.
Go see this movie!!

... annnnnnd here's Maria! MWAH!!OXOX

Yeahhhh
So its really hot here and last night we finally found a way tobe comfortable in our really hard springy mattresses. We actually got lucky the first night we were here and they accidentally forgot to turn off the power source of the a/c, but we werent so lucky after that. But the fan has proved to be efficient enough to get some shut eye. Its crazy though because we have been sooo wiped out by 9pm every night, its crazy! We must be getting old or something...

SO yeah, weve had a hard time trying to get any flights from Zagreb home, they are soooo expensive!! I really hopee we can find something...eeekk

So today were gonna try and find a beach bungalow in Lamai beach for when our time runs out here in Chaweng.

I must admit, i am getting a little homesick this week. Its more of just being afraid of the next little while and how we are going to get from here to there. Well keep searching though! Anyways, gotta boogie.
Talk to you all soon!
xoxo mia

2006-05-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hey all. Its us again. So we are going to be staying in Chaweng for a total of a week and we will go see the other beaches on this island. We were thinking of taking a kayak tour for the day pretty soon, that would be a lot of fun. it turns out to be about 60 bucks per person.
Weve been doing quite a bit of shopping. We purchased some lovely steals for our home when we get... home... like a silk duvet cover and some pillow shams to match. Some wall hangings and some beaautifully crafted wooden plates. We could only find three, but im sure it will suffice, or we will just find some more. We went to the post office to ship the stuff off and were kicked in the gut with the price. 74 dollars to ship air mail to canada. We had alreaady paid for the shipping by the time it clued in to ask about land mail, which was half the price, but it did take 3 months to get there, but who cares? Anyways, we know for next time.
So currently were trying to figure out what we are going to be doing when our visa runs out here in Thailand. We were gonna go to Vietnam for 2 weeks and are finding flights, or trying anyways.
Tonight were gonna try and go to the cinema they have at the edge of town.. that should be interesting.
Anyways, well see you all soon keep posting comments!
m & v