Slideshow Episode 2

The Dragon Rollercoaster and Swimming at the Hard Rock

92. See a panda

At Ocean Park there is a wonderful Giant Panda Habitat, and two Pandas live there: Ying Ying and Le Le. We don't think these are the same Pandas that were given to Hong Kong to mark their return to Chinese sovereignty...but who knows? Regardless, we all thought Ying Ying and Le Le were pretty cool! And...the whole pavilion was COLD, so it was also a welcome break from the sweltering heat!

5 experiences down...only 95 to go!

62. Ride on a double decker bus

We were so excited to see that our bus from the MTR station to Ocean Park was a double decker!! We got to sit on the top in the very front, and it was a wonderful way to get our first glimpse of Hong Kong!!

4 experiences down...96 to go!!

Hard Rock, a Zombie and Ocean Park

On Friday, the kids had medical assessments at the University Hospital in the morning followed by entrance exams at the school. We got to the hospital with no problems, but it was a little confusing when we got there and had to fill out some forms. The forms were in chinese and portuguese so I needed a little assistance properly filling them out. The forms are generally formatted the same as back home so I could figure out the name, date and DOB lines, but the rest was tougher. The doctor was a small lady that was about 4 feet tall and looked around 14 years old! She was very nice with the kids and by the time we left there, we were late for the entrance exams. Kaidyn's exam was rescheduled to Monday, but Kylisha was able to write hers. It took her approximately 2.5 hours to write it and she performed quite well to boot! While Klash was writing, Pat, Kaidyn and I returned to the Hard Rock Pool, where Amanda and Klash met us after their day at the school ended. At least Pat brought a full swimsuit this time rather than the 2 bottoms she brought last time! We spent a couple more hours there and then returned home around 6 pm.

Tonight I was invited to a poker game! I have never played poker and that was probably the biggest reason they wanted me to come! I walked over there with one of the teachers that lives in our building and he met me in the lobby with a couple road pops for the short walk. He referred to them as sport performance beverages......I liked his thinking! We collected a couple more teachers and headed to the north end of Taipa (which took 10 minutes to walk), bought some more beer and headed to the apartment. I was questioning the condition of the apartment from the exterior and throughout the corridors, but it was actually very nice once inside the unit. It also had a great view of the Macau Jockey Club (horse racing) from the balcony. It was 100 MOP buy in (around $15) and I am glad to say that I was not the first person out! It was a blast and I actually added the Texas Hold'em app on my iphone so I can practice up for the monthly games! Needless to say I consumed just the right amount of Tsing Tao and we stumbled our way home late that night. I had to be sober enough to look the right way for traffic when crossing the street!

After a short sleep, we headed to Hong Kong for the first time to Ocean Park. Ocean Park is like Magic Mountain mixed with Seaworld! We took the ferry to HK then caught the MTR (LRT) to the Ocean Park Express Bus (double decker). The trip to the park was very easy despite the huge network of ferries trains and buses. Imagine a theme park built on a huge hill overlooking the ocean......the views were spectacular and so was the walking. Most of the hills had escalators, bu the huge area the park covered required many steps! This was the only time Kaidyn didn't complain about walking since he got here! The funniest part of the day was Amanda mentioned she noticed a person taking her picture, then while in the gift shop, a Chinese boy asked me to take his picture with her! It was quite hilarious and we are thinking of charging HKD for each photo! We left the park around 6 PM to do some quick shopping at H&M. On the way to H&M, Kylisha was sitting by a young man (looked like he worked at the park) and he was TIRED! His eyes were rolled back in his head and he looked like a zombie (see pic). We and other passengers on the bus had a good laugh at him. This area of HK was what I would image NY to be like......lights everywhere, tons of people and lots of shopping. After shopping we walked around looking for a restaurant, but oddly enough, there were no restaurants within 2-3 blocks of the store. Everyone was tired and hungry so we decided to head back to the ferry terminal and hit one of the many restaurants there! We caught the 9PM ferry back to Taipa and arrived home around 10:15pm and everyone crashed hard!

Sunday we didn't have any formal plans so everyone got up whenever, and lounged around. Kylisha still needed black shoes for school so the girls headed to Senado Square for some last minute shopping. Kylisha also had plans with some new friends to hit the Cheoc Van Pool for lunch, swimming and dinner! Some friends of ours were in Zhuhai (mainland) for the weekend as he plays Australian Rules Football and they had a match there. Before the kids got here, I asked my dad to buy us a high wattage travel converter for the xbox, wii and other electronics we have that are only 110V (here it is 220V) so he could send it with Pat and the kids. He found one, but once here, it did not work so that meant no video games at all for us (mostly Kaid and I). Our friend managed to grab us UK power supply units for the both the Wii and XBOX so he brought them back last night and they work like a charm! Plus they were only $25 for both! Things are dirt cheap in Zhuhai so you can imagine the great bargains you can find!

While Klash was out socializing, we headed to Old Taipa so Pat could check out the oldest part of Taipa. Kaidyn picked a fine time to get the runs (while on my shoulders), so he and I headed back home while the girls continued to explore! That is 3 of the 4 of us that have gotten some sort of bug, so the clock is ticking for Kylisha!!!!!

26. Go to Ocean Park

Yesterday we took our first trip to Hong Kong and went to Ocean Park. It is part aquarium, part theme park. We had an amazing day (although it was VERY hot). Kaid saw lots of fish (including sharks), and Kylisha saw her favourite...red pandas. The views from the cable car were spectacular!! We didn't get a chance to see and do everything, so we will definitely be back...and Amanda will be taking her class on a field trip here later in the school year.

3 experiences down...97 more to go

Our Address

I just thought about our address while filling out the kids' medical forms and thought some of you may want it so you can send us some Timmy's! I'll put it on the contact page as well.

The Pacifica Garden Block 2 22J
Povoacao De Lam Ca Chun
Taipa, Macau


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August 24-26 - Rain, Movie Refund and Monstrous Spiders

So Tuesday turned out to be a very wet day from beginning to end. We planned to go to Senado Square so we grabbed our umbrellas and headed out around 11 AM. It really was too bad it was raining because most of the street vendors that were there when Amanda and I went, were not there due to the weather. Despite the constant drizzle, we made our way to St. Paul Ruins. Kylisha thought it was just beautiful and Kaidyn thought it was so cool that the rest of the church burned down, leaving the front facade. After the ruins, Kaidyn and I found a store called Toy Kingdom. Upon entering this fine establishment, I took note of the 2 foot wide aisles on the main and lower floors. Toys were stacked from floor to ceiling throughout the store! It was just too much to look at...so we left and found Kylisha and Pat in a local store selling items designed by local artists. Thye had some really cool funky stuff and Pat managed to buy some gifts for the lucky ones back home. On our way back to the bus, we stopped at the busiest McDonalds I have ever been in, but we all enjoyed a familiar taste of home. At least that tastes the same here!

On Wednesday we took in the Macau Tower with the plan to have lunch, see "Cats And Dogs" the movie, then go up the tower. Well we bought our movie tickets first, then our tower tix, then to the restaurant for lunch. On my way to the restaurant, I noticed that the movie poster said Cantonese version and thought maybe there was going to be subtitles. I asked the cashier and he stated that there was no english translation at all! I guess I assumed the movie would be in english just like Salt was. I asked if we could get a refund (around $20 CAD) and he said no! So we ate at the Singing Bean enjoying the view of the waterfront from our table. After lunch, Pat returned to see about a refund and she got a different worker. He gladly refunded our money and we toured around the exterior of the tower then headed up 61 floors! The views were gorgeous despite it being somewhat cloudy. The kids really enjoyed the glass bottomed sections of the observation deck as well as the strawberry soft serve available up there! Before we headed back home, Pat bought some goodies at the gift store there and Kaidyn took pictures of all these "Brave Battle Warriors" that were on display there.

Thursday was a scorcher....32 C, but felt like 38 C with the humidity! The kids needed some additional items for their uniforms so Kylisha and I headed into the depths of Macau via bus. It only took us 1.5 hours to get everything done and return home. It also helped that the worker at the uniform supply company spoke very good english! Our plan this day was to head to the island of Coloane and check out world famous Lord Stow's Bakery (famous egg tarts), and hit Cheoc Van Pool. Once in Coloane Village, we lunched at Lord Stow's Cafe where we all enjoyed our selections. Pat - veggie lasagna, Klash - baked potato w/ham/cheese, Kaidyn - baked potato w/bacon/cheese and I had the thai fried chicken! After stuffing our bellies, we headed to the pool and on our way down the long staircase, Pat noticed a spider the size of my hand! GROSS! It was sitting in its web and it was huge. We made our way to the pool and spent a couple of hours there. That is until the massive rainstorm made its way to shore. The pool was perfect temperature (cooler than the S. China Sea), huge and not busy at all. Too bad the storm came, but we had to head back for a staff/family mixer bbq at the school at 5 pm. On the way back up the staircase, we noticed that there were at least 5 more spiders with webs strewn across wide gaps....it was quite amazing!

So for the bbq, we had to bring our own meat and drinks. I headed to market and picked up a half doz of Tsing Tao, some jalapeno cheddar smokies and some good old hot dogs. We took the bus to the school and met Amanda there. All the staff and their families were there. Kaidyn had some older boys to chill with for the evening and Klash found some girls that are in grade 11. They asked Amanda if they could show her around town and would bring her home later. When asked what time, a teacher's daughter said her curfew was 11:30, so I guess that is when she will be home. As I write this it is now 10 PM, so we'll see if she makes her home alive!

Also, apparently I am joining some guys tomorrow evening for poker night at someone's place...too bad I don't play poker, but maybe I'll have to take it up now!

UPDATE! Kylisha arrived home at 10:15ish safe and sound and had a blast with her new buddies!

Take 2

Stupid Youtube wouldn't let me post the song I chose, so I found a way around it...so hopefully this works!

TV Shopping

So we were out tv shopping and saw this beauty.........103 inches of LCD innovation. Only 500 000 MOP, which is just over $66000 CAD.




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The Kill Floor, Hard Rock and Sick Bum

Today, we decided to head to the Red Market located in Macau. The Red Market is a great place for shopping in Macau as you can find great deals on anything from electronics to produce and clothing. This market is also a "wet" market, which means that you pick live animals for food and they slaughter them right there in front of you. As any of you know, I live with 2 of the biggest animal lovers in the world and they decided not to step foot inside the massive building and stuck to the outdoor market areas. While Amanda, Klash and Pat browsed outdoors, Kaidyn and I took a brief jaunt through there and he was definitely fascinated with the amount of activity going on. From the front door we could see about 80 or so hand sized frogs packed into this basket thingy, as well as tables with flopping fish all over the place and prawns jumping a couple feet of the tables. Kaidyn thought it was the coolest thing ever. Next time we'll take a good walk through there to see what is really for sale. After the red market we stopped at a bakery for some snacks then off to the Macau Tower for Kaid to check out Toys R Us and for dinner. We promised Bubs that if he was a good boy for Nana on the flight over, we may get him a tow at the store, so he thankfully chose a $10 army tank and soldiers rather than that crazy expensive Lego (like he doesn't have enough already). For dinner we ate at the little food court there where the ladies all had pasta dishes and I indulged in another noodle soup, this time not spicy enough to burn off my lips! We took a cab home from the tower at night and the bridge we crossed was beautifully lit up. I'll have to snap a pic next time.

On Monday, Kylisha woke up with a bit of a temperature, so she decided to stay home while me, Pat and Kaidyn ventured to the Cotai Strip. We arrived at the Venetian right around noon so we ate at the food court there. Amanda's school is across the street from the resort so she met us there too! Many of you have been in the Vegas Venetian, but I must say that this one by far out does Vegas...here it is just way too much! After lunch we headed to the Hard Rock Pool where the public can pay admission to use it. This pool has white sand and the temperature was right around room temperature, but still very refreshing. The sun was out in full force today so we caught a lot of rays until a sudden rainstorm came rolling through. By this time we were there a couple hours so we packed it in to head home. A cool thing about the pool was that they had water speakers installed so that when you were underwater, you could hear the tunes crystal clear (Hopefully in the video you can hear how clear it is). After the pool we headed to the market then home for a dinner of stir fry and rice.



A bug musta hit Amanda because she did not have a pleasant evening. She nearly #2'd in her pants and did not have a restful sleep as I could hear her making the commute to the can every 15 minutes or so. Did I feel bad? Yes, but it was ironic that I was the same way after the baby octopi incident last week. My how the tables have turned! Hopefully she is better by morning and not too tired for work with that little sleep!

12. Try to find a bubble tea shop

Our friend Lynne reminded us that we had actually completed this item on our list, since we had mentioned it in our blog :). Thanks, Lynne! There are actually SEVERAL places to buy Bubble Tea around here...and just like Leong said...none are slushy like the awesome ones she makes for us!! But...the ones here are good and will suffice until we can make it back to her and her 1/2 sago delicious creations!


2 experiences down...only 98 to go!!!

A tour, a visit, and a food court

The last two days have been very busy!! Yesterday Amanda went on a tour of Macau with her school. They started with a trip to Coloane and some treats and coffee at Lord Stow's bakery. Then they were taken on a walk through the village of Coloane. Many people live in small homes that are also stores. The front of their houses which face the streets have merchandise, but if you look a little further in you can see their sofas and kitchens. They headed back onto the bus and toured the beaches. Then they headed to the A-Ma Temple. The temple is high up on a hill and you have to take a shuttle bus to reach it. They were actually filming a kung fu movie at the temple!! It was very cool. Apparently if you go to the temple any afternoon you can buy a bird (or even a turtle) and release it for good luck and prosperity.

Once they had seen the temple they headed to Senado Square and one of the veteran teachers showed the newbies the best little street vendor to go to for dumplings and green onion cakes. They were apparently DELICIOUS!! For lunch they went to an Italian restaurant in Macau. It is owned by a parent from the school and they treated the staff to all you could drink Sangria, appetizers, pizza, pasta, and dessert...so it was a feast!! What a wonderful welcoming!!

While Amanda was galavanting around town, I was terribly busy working hard. I didn't do anything until Muneer picked me up just before 11 am to pick up Pat and the kids.
We picked them up at the Taipa ferry terminal and headed to our place. They were quite excited to see their new home and bedrooms and they were quite pleased with the place. The kids unpacked some of their belongings. The sofa, wardrobes and our bed arrived this afternoon as well. We are definitely pleased with the black leather sectional and our king size bed. It surely feels like more of a home now. After we unpacked some stuff, we headed down to the pool so we could swim.....the pool was a little cooler today due to the rain last night, but it was definitely refreshing. Kylisha picked a swim cap like Amanda's pink panda and Kaidyn picked an orange one. Maybe he is the only normal one in our fam!

After Amanda got home and smothered the children with hugs we had dinner (Chinese egg noodle stir fry), and then we headed out on the town to show the kids some sights (Pat was passed out and missed out). We went to Flower City Park (now known as Myrtle Park) to feed the fish and turtles some food we bought at a local pet store. Needless to say, Kaid LOVED this and has asked to go back every 20 minutes or so since he's arrived!

We headed next to Old Taipa and took the kids to Haagen Daz. Kylisha had a Belgium Chocolate cone and Kaid tried a Mango Passion Fruit. It's pretty cool there, because you order and sit down. Then they will bring you water like you are in a regular restaurant. When your order is ready they bring it to the table (and if you order a cone, they bring it on a plate).

The kids were fading fast at this point, so we headed back to the apartment. On our way back we stopped at the bedding shop to buy Kaid a mattress topper. They didn't have a queen sized topper, so we ordered one for pick up the next day. The shop owner tried to short change Amanda 200 MOP...but thankfully she noticed. The owner was apologetic, but Amanda still thinks he's shady.

That night Pat came creeping into our room at 4:30am scared poopless because she thought she heard someone trying to break into our apartment. Amanda went to the rescue (tentatively), and they soon discovered that the noise Pat heard was coming from Kylisha's bedroom. She was Skyping with her friend back home! Hahaha!

Once we were up we took Kaid and Pat on our Taipa Grande hike. Kaid made it about half way before I turned around and brought him back. But, Pat and Amanda did the whole loop and Pat really enjoyed the views. After the hike we took the kids and Pat to Cuppa Coffee so they could see where we've been spending all our time during the last two weeks (and so they could try an egg tart). Kylisha (as was expected) LOVED the tarts!! We headed back to Turtle Park so Pat could see the sights there, and then we bought some more bus passes so that we could head into Macau.

We headed to a department store called New Yaohan in Macau. It has 8 floors of clothes, cosmetics, bedding, and appliances. We bought Kaid some black shoes for his uniform and then Pat purchased some small appliances for us as a house warming. She bought us a coffee maker, a fan, a convection oven, a crock pot, and a rice maker. We chose to have them delivered since it would have likely been a gong show to carry all our new treasures back on a super packed bus!!

For lunch we headed up to the 8th floor to the food court. Right away Kaid said, "Everything here is yucky. I can't eat any of it." Pat concurred. There were about 6 food stations and everything was (appropriately) very Chinese. Pat and Kylisha saw some rice concoction with beef being prepared at one station and pointed at it. Perfect. I easily chose some rice dish with a mystery meat on top. I'm still not even sure what it was. It was kind of sweet, so it wasn't my fave. Amanda found some noodles that she wanted, but they had octopus pieces on top. The noodles looked great and it was filled with veggies, so she pointed to the creation to show that she wanted it, then grabbed a piece of paper, drew an octopus on it and put an X over it.
They understood!! Who knew that Pictionary skills would be so important over here??Kaid ended up eating steamed rice, but noticed that a little girl next to us had some noodles that looked delicious...he told us to ask the girl's dad what her noodles were called. If only it were that simple, Kaid...

A strange thing about some food courts over here...first you pick what you want, then you stand in line to pay, then you take your receipt back to the station you've chosen to cook for you. Then you watch on a big screen for your number to come up. This let's you know that your food is ready.

We headed back to the apartment and went for the swim. The locksmith came to change the locks and the realtor came to try and fix the toilet (for the third time this week)! Muneer also brought the bed for the spare room.

For dinner we made spaghetti, a salad, corn, and fried potatoes...Kaid pretty much fell asleep at the dinner table at 6:30pm and slept until 4am. Kylisha wasn't far behind...

22. Visit Lord Stow’s bakery and try Portuguese egg tarts

Lucky Amanda was the first in our family to eat an egg tart at Lord Stow's in Coloane. Her school included a stop here on the tour they took all the new staff on today. It is fitting that she completed this experience off of our list since she has a serious addiction to these tarts and has eaten one almost every day since we arrived. She didn't actually get a picture of herself eating one...so she figures we'll have to go back again soon. Shocker!

August 19 - trapped, meatfest and thunder

So today was the day our wardrobes and king bed were supposed to come. Well you guessed it, they did not come. Big surprise! I was told they will be coming Friday after lunch. Yeah right. Anyways we got to skype Tom, Pat and Kaidyn in the morning before their flight. Pat was a little nervous about the trip over, but we reassured her it would be fine.

I walked Amanda part way to work but decided to head back because there were some nasty clouds and a curtain of rain coming quickly. Good thing I had an umbrella and just made it to the coffee shop before the downpour started. Amanda called me and I guess her umbrella broke from the wind and she was trapped on the campus somewhere due to the rain. It was also staff picture day! Needless to say, they didn't take the pictures because so many of the staff got caught by the sudden shower. Thems would have been some sweet ID pictures! The showers here only last 15-20 minutes, but dump as much rain as we get in a day. It's nuts!

During the day I was able to skype the Gibsons and Jord. I had a good visit with them then washed the kids school uniforms. Pretty exciting eh?

That night, once again there was a staff meal at a restaurant called Afrikana. It was located at Fisherman's Wharf (same name but nothing like San Fran). It was a beautiful restaurant with private huts to eat in. If you're a meat eater, this was quite the meat extravaganza. They had African chicken, pork, ribs, sushi, crayfish, muscles, veal, lamb etc. It was quite pricey, especially with the jug of sangria as it cost us 450 mop which is 56 CAD. I had way too much to eat and could not sleep. There was also a huge thunderstorm late that night and it was quite scary feeling the building vibrate from the intense thunder.

Tomorrow the 20th is when the kids finally get here! We can't wait till then so they can experience all that we have so far!

It was such an exciting day while Amanda was at work, I felt the need to take a picture of our fridge!







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August 15-18, 2010 Moving in, first day and online!

The morning of the 15th, we woke up to a steady rain...too bad, I really wanted to go for a walk! So since it was pouring out, I decided to move some of our bags to the new apartment. I grabbed 1 of 2 keys they gave us and lugged 2 big bags with me to the other tower. Whatta ya know....the key doesn't work! So instead of bringing the bags all the way back, I left them there and came got the other key as well as another bag....whatta ya know, that key did not work either! By this point, I'm sweating my bag off and quite irritated with the whole situation. I sent a text to Muneer about the keys and he and the agent met me at the apartment. Apparently there was a 3rd key that was properly labelled as the new apartment key in Amanda's purse. What a dumbass....and I still have no idea what those keys I tried were for. Also during this fiasco, one of the younger security guards in our building asked me if I was ABC....what the heck is ABC? I told him I didn't know what he meant so he looked at his coworker with a bit of a snicker then asked me if I was asian. For all of you back home, I look asian right? Too bizarre! As we waited for the new place to be cleaned, we decided to hang at the pool and buy some stuff for the place such as pillows, pots, wok etc. We finally moved in around 5 pm that afternoon. After we unpacked some clothes, much to Amanda's pleasure, we headed to San Miu Supermarket a couple blocks away for our first grocery trip. Back home, you drive to the store, buy whatever and how much you want, knowing you just pack the car and drive home. Here you have to carry everything home in bags or backpacks. Good thing Amanda is stronger than me! I like to pack light!

Amanda started her week long orientation on the 16th. It was lightly raining that morning so she grabbed all her classroom supplies and umbrella for the 15 minute walk to the school (during the school year there is a school charter that will pick up and drop off Amanda and the kids across the street everyday). Here, you're not very smart if you don't carry an umbrella with you everywhere you go. Not only is the umbrella great for the sudden showers, but also for keeping the scorching sun off you. It doesn't matter what the weather is, you can always see numerous umbrellas all around.

Over the next couple of days, I knew that furniture was being delivered, so I couldn't really leave the apartment all day. It sucked because here is so much to do and see here. So this day, the flat screen tv, Kylisha's bed, coffee table and tv stand came. Also the lights and curtains were installed and the gas was turned on (we didn't really miss the gas because the cool water was very much welcomed). The furniture is pretty good, except for the Goldmember curtains, the horrific flowery brass light fixture in the living room and the totally cheesy chinese butterfly muraled coffee table. The owner of our unit (a lady in Hong Kong) picked all the furnishings so we did not have any say in what came.

There were 12 new teachers at Amanda's orientation and she had nothing but great things to say about them all. After Amanda got home for work, we went out for dinner down in Old Taipa to Mexicana. The food was fantastic and the beer tasted even better. We went out with married teachers from Winnipeg, married teachers from Australia, a teacher from Edmonton and one from Innisfail. It turned out that we live in the same complex as 4 of the 6 people. The teacher from Edmonton is actually going to be Kylisha's soccer coach and she was quite excited to hear that Klash has been playing competitively for a long time as most of the girls here only play in school and not in metro leagues.

On the 17th, Amanda headed to work and I headed to the coffee shop. I chilled there for a while then headed out to buy some more hangers, fabric softener and a clothes drying rack. I wasn't sure what time our water cooler as being delivered to I headed back around 10 am to wait. Of course I sat around until 2 pm for the water to come. To ease my boredom, I hooked up the DVD player and good news, it plays movies off of a usb stick. Good to see my downloading will not be hampered! This evening, Amanda's principal (from Milk River, AB) was having a bbq for all staff and families. A lot of the teachers at the school are married to each other or else single with no kids. Only a handful of the teachers have kids too. You should try jamming 30 or so people into an apartment! It was a fantastic time (with a couple brews of course). I happened to chat with one of the teachers from Calgary and he mentioned that he substitute teached last year (his wife was full time last year, he wasn't) and he worked an average of 3 days a week. Because most teachers are married to staff or single, the need for substitutes is great.....I should have no problem keeping busy and getting our travel fund up there. I'm a little nervous, but more about Amanda watching me teach, than actually teaching. It will definitely be pretty cool working with Amanda over the next couple years.

Wednesday the 18th was the day our internet was being installed!!!! Yippee! We've been waiting for this since we got here. The internet was hooked up by noon so it was perfect timing to skype back home. I chatted with Jesse and Loni, my parents and Klash. She is definitely excited to get here. I took them on a little tour of our place with my netbook. Amanda got home around 5:30 ish and it looked like she ran a marathon. Sweating is just a way of life here! This evening was the first opportunity we got to cook dinner at home and of course we whipped up some stir fry with vermicelli. It was great, especially with all the fresh produce from the local markets. So we ate and Amanda crashed for an hour or so. It must be the back to work fatigue! So tomorrow is supposed to be the day our king bed, kids' wardrobes and couch are supposed to arrive so we'll see what goes wrong tomorrow!

Hold Tight!

Hey everyone, it's been a couple of days since we posted anything......it has been really busy with moving, shopping and having multiple contractors in our place to install stuff. We do get internet tomorrow by noon, so we will update you with the last couple of days worth of happenings!

August 14 - Ring of Fire and waiting waiting waiting

A quick note to tell you that last night as we were headed home we noticed something new in the flower city park. It was a path of pointy rocks that the locals were attempting to walk across. We thought we'd give it a try, so we took off our sandals and hopped on. I lasted about 5 seconds, while good old RR#4 Amanda cruised down the path with great ease. She passed several locals as they gingerly walked along. As she strode by them they just stared at her like she was a crazy white girl! I will post a picture when our Internet is hooked up (see below).


So my day started very early-around 445 am. No, I didn't have an appointment, or a walk to take, or a phone call to make. For some reason I had the very urgent need to visit the washroom....again and again and again! And I wasn't puking! The different foods must have caught up with me. Those stinking baby octopi!!! Thank goodness Amanda spent a small fortune at Shopper's Drug Mart before we left. She hooked me up with some immodium and by lunch time I was good to go again! Of course I wasn't even considering leaving the house for our 6:30am hike, so Amanda ventured off on her own.

After she returned and showered, we headed to our coffee shop, then back home to meet the school's driver Muneer to sign our lease. Yaaaay!! On the way home from the coffee shop, there was a sudden rainstorm that dumped buckets for about 20 minutes. The sound of the rain hitting the metal awnings was like a thousand drums beating in the streets.

Muneer took us to the property agent's office to sign the lease. Thank goodness he was with us because the realtor and his wife didn't speak a bit of English! We signed the paperwork and headed to CTM (like Telus) to schedule our wireless internet installation. This is a must to get asap as we are so accustomed to having access all the time back home and we need it to stay in touch with all of you!! We got a really great package. Along with unlimited home access, we get 1200 minutes/month of hotspot access. Here in Macau, they have CTM wifi hotspots located all over the city, so with our package, we can access the internet vitually all over the place. The Macau government also provides free wifi in designated public areas so they pretty much have everywhere covered. Those free internet spots and the coffee shop have been lifesavers this past week. The Internet will be just over 30 dollars a month and our installation is Wednesday morning!!

After CTM, we stopped at Mcdonalds for me to get some good ole grease in my belly. I asked for it to go and they put it all in a paper bag then a plastic bag, including the drink. I was pleasantly surprised that my Big Mac was exactly like the ones back home!! And better yet...it didn't require a trip to the toilet. We stopped to get a picture frame for our family photo with pets, checked out a plant shop, grabbed some fruit for Amanda's lunch then she grabbed coconut buns from a local bakery. She absolutely loved them and I'm guessing we'll see many more in the future.

At 2 pm we went to the agent to pick up the keys for the place. But...as usual...another hold up. The keys weren't ready, the furniture wasn't all in yet....

So we waited. And waited. And waited. We watched some movies and read and took a nap. Then we waited some more. We had to stick close to the apartment so that as soon as our place was ready we could get the keys and move in. Sometime during the afternoon Muneer stopped by with some oil heaters another teacher was selling. A new heater sells for about 140 cad, but we bought 2 used ones for 130. The apartments apparently get quite cool in the winter and there are no furnaces, so we are definitely prepared!

We re-packed all the bags, cleaned the entire apartment we've been staying in, and waited some more. We watched another movie and waited.

By this time it was 8pm and we were beginning to lose hope. We decided to venture out for dinner and we ended up at a place called May Box. It was okay. They brought us hot water with our meal. Amanda ordered Singapore Style Udon Noodles and broccoli and I ordered African Chicken and fried rice. We've noticed that when you order food here it all comes to the table at different times. They don't wait until eveything is ready...they just cook it and bring it. Sometimes this means that Amanda is pretty much done eating before my food even arrives. Luckily she shares.

Finally at 945pm we got the call that our keys were ready to be picked up from our new apartment! We headed up to the 22nd floor, excited to get the keys and start moving our stuff in. Based on how the day was going we probably shouldn't have been so optimistic. The bed in the master bedroom was double!!! We had been promised a king and 2 queens! We were also assured that the mattresses would be soft (or at least not rock hard). This mattress was like a piece of plywood. It was HARD! There was no furniture anywhere else in the apartment and there were no curtains. The floors were also filthy and the whole apartment needed a good cleaning. It was disappointing, to say the least. But in retrospect, not very surprising. We communicated our concerns as best as possible and were assured that the apartment would be cleaned first thing in the morning, the double would become a king, and the mattresses would most definitely be of the softest variety they could find. Hmmmmmm..... I guess we wait (shocked??) and see. We headed back to the loaner apartment for what had better be our last night!!!


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August 13 - bubble tea, sangria and baby octopi

A quick mention of something that happened on our way home last night after we had posted our blog...

As we strolled down the street Amanda noticed a store that looked a lot like a bubble tea store. She decided to try and order one. The menu was in English and Chinese. She saw something called Strawberry Calpis and decides to try and ask what it was. They (in very broken English) explained that calpis was like yakult?? They showed us a carton of this mystery liquid and we still had zero clue...but, Amanda ordered it....the young girls seemed nice and seemed to remind her of her little sister Michelle Leong. Of course Amanda needed half sago in her bubble tea so she asked the pseudo Leongs if they knew what sago was. They looked at each other and back at Amanda saying, "sago?" multiple times as Amanda kept repeating it too. Finally, she figured she would try some gestures and made small balls with her fingers and said, "balls". The young girls understood!!!! They brought a big bucket over and scooped up a big scoop of...you guessed it....sago!!! then Amanda asked them what they would call it (clearly expecting a Chinese name). Imagine our surprise when they both replied in unison, "tapioca". Hahahahahha!! It was almost as good as a Leong bubble tea, although not slushy.

We spent the entire morning at the coffee shop skyping and whatnot. We finally got word that we move into our new place tomorrow afternoon! Finally! We are so excited to move in and unpack our bags. It has been a bugger living out of our suitcases for the past week. Amanda has been complaining about it everyday so I especially can't wait!

After lounging in the coffee shop for 3-4 hours, we headed down the street to the yoga studio to inquire about classes for Amanda and Kylisha. it sounds like this particular place offers numerous yoga, pilates, and dance classes including Bollywood! You pick a day of the week and you can attend any and all of the classes offered that particular day. It costs just under 40 dollars a month. We continued down the street and ran into a pet store. The store consisted primarily of fish with some frogs, some random turtle and a whack of red eared sliders just like Kaidyn's turtle, except small babies. I think Amanda's plan is to get a baby red eared slider and then release it into the ponds at Flower City park when it is time to leave in 2012. I think I mentioned the turtles that live there in a previous blog. We also stopped and bought hampers, trash cans, cutlery, plates and a shower curtain for the ensuite on the way back home.

We lazed around the pool for 3 hours in the afternoon as the sun was blazing today.

We set out to Old Taipa in search of an Italian restaurant called Poppanos recommended by the new teacher package provided by the school. The mission was a failure, but we happened across a Spanish restaurant called Don Quijote's. English was excellent here. We got free fresh bread, garlic butter, balsamic vinegar and oil, olives and my fave Xmas snack, pickled onions. We ordered some sangria. I wanted the full pitcher and Amanda endorsed the half pitcher. Needless to say the half pitcher lasted not very long. Now a drunk Amanda wanted the remaining half of the pitcher (she wasn't actually drunk.....yet). I must say that the proximity of our home to all these restaurants coupled with the dirt cheap booze has helped contribute to a whole lot of drinking this week!

The food was delicious. Amanda ordered a pumpkin leek soup, which was to die for. Apparently pumpkin is used quite frequently in Taipa. I ordered the seafood paella complete with giant prawns, shrimp, clams, mussels, and numerous baby octopi. There were 6 babies and I managed to eat 4 of them. I felt a little bit bad eating them. Amanda reminded me that they had given their lives for me, so they would have died in vain if I didn't eat them (once again...too much Sangria)!




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Day 6 - garlic, a taxi and a jumping spider

Today we were surprised that we BOTH slept until 630!! Once we were up we went right away for our daily hike. Each day we do the full loop and its about 4 km. It was really cloudy so the hike seemed a lot easier than usual. Just as we were decending the hill it started pouring rain and by the time we got back we were soaked! The rain here is like a warm shower, so we weren't cold at all (until we stepped into our very air conditioned apartment).

Once we showered we headed back to...you guessed it...cuppa coffee. We were very disappointed that there was no Internet there today. We couldn't check our email or do our daily Skype with the kids. :(

After breakfast we decided to check out the Macau Tower. We had to do a bus transfer, but it was a piece of cake! Once we got there we went up to the observation deck on the 58th floor. It was a pretty spectacular view of Macau, Taipa, and China!! Certain parts of the observation deck were glass bottomed and several tourists were too scared to stand on there and look down 700ish feet. We then headed up to the 61st floor and watched some daredevils bungy jump!!! This jump is apparently in the Guinness World Record book as the highest in the world!! We've both agreed that we want to try and do the jump in the next 2 years (maybe when Lynn and Dan come in January?? :-)

We had lunch at the tower as the lower level is like a shopping mall with retail and food court. They had a soup/pasta bar similar to Mongoli Grill back home. We picked our ingredients and they cooked it up. I selected a miso soup with egg noodles, baby bok choy and pork balls. Amanda ordered fusilli with fresh tomatoes and tomato sauce. After we got our food, the lovely cook directed us to this huge tray of toppings and sauces. It was a dream come true. I wanted to spice up my soup so she started dumping all these pastes and sauces in herself. She encouraged Amanda (no English) to add parmesan cheese and some mystery topping. Amanda was hesitant to put in on her pasta so she took a little and tasted it and said "garlic". The cook then repeated garlic a few times and then gave Amanda the thumbs up. She then told us how to say garlic in Cantonese, which is pronounced "chen yu". She was a blast.

The food was excellent as always and cheap, especially for a major tourist attraction like Macau Tower. She definitely spiced up my soup as my lips were burning, I was sweating and I had to remove my hat. I'll refer to the soup as "lip remover" and will add my own spices next time.

After lunch we went out to watch a couple more bungy jumpers then headed to the movie Salt. There is a modern theatre here and it was only $6 CAD each. What a deal. We also had to select our seats just like if we went to an Oilers game. It's a pretty cool system they have.

As we were waiting for the movie to start Amanda got into trouble for sitting with her feet on a sofa.

We are now tied in the "Who can get in trouble the most by scary Chinese in uniforms" contest.

The movie was great!! It had Chinese subtitles, but we barely noticed. There was no popcorn so I enjoyed some UCC (milk coffee) and I was a big fan! Next time we will have to bring microwave popcorn, because a movie is not the same without popcorn....Amanda says right Val? ;-)

During the movie a man in front of us kept answering his phone. Each time he would duck behind the seat in front of him (where he presumably thought nobody could hear him) and he would LOUDLY yell, "HELLO!" good times.

We took our first cab ride home today (only because we mistakenly tried to get on a bus back to Taipa and all the people on the bus and the bus driver told us to get off). Apparently that bus wasn't going to Taipa at all??? At any rate, we took a cab back and it cost us about $5.00 (a bus would have been $1.00).

After a riveting game of Scrabble we wandered around and found a Thai restaurant called Siam. I had some spicy minced beef that he wrapped in lettuce and Amanda had Thai noodles with veggies. We also sampled some Thai beer called Singha. It was good!!

Tonight seems quite a bit cooler, but still 28 degrees. As I type this, we believe a spider just jumped out of Amanda's hair and hopped across our table in the restaurant!!!!! GROSS. We are just gonna head back and finish watching Invictus, which started last night.


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Day 5

Our day started out with another attempt at walking the Taipa Grande. We thought that if we got an earlier start we might enjoy it a bit more. So, at twenty after six we started out. It was a much more enjoyable walk this morning, as the sun wasn't as hot and the humidity was more bearable. We met a lovely lady from the Toronto area at the base of the hill and we walked the loop together. This woman lived in hong kong for 16 years and was a wealth of knowledge. She told us about a place in Hong Kong that she thought Kaid might like: it's a place called Monkey Mountain and basically it's what you think it is....a mountain covered in monkeys. We'll see if we can make it there. The only deterrant is that she said you need to carry a stick??? Hmmmmmm.....

After our walk and showers we headed down to Cuppa Coffee for breakfast and free wifi. Amanda is loving the Portuguese egg tarts here and she's had one for breakfast every day as "bessert" after her real breakfast. After catching up with our emails and chatting on skype we walked down to Amanda's school to give them our passports so they could work on the visas. The walk down and back nearly killed us as it was VERY hot today! We then headed to a supermarket and bought stuff for lunch. We were very happy to find salt and vinegar lays and the same dried mango slices we always buy at Costco back home! We had lunch in the apartment we are staying in and it was wonderful to not have to eat out!!! We also bought laundry soap so that we could wash some of our sweat soaked clothes!!!! There is no dryer so we'll see how long it takes to dry our clothes on the balcony.

During the afternoon we spent some time at the pool. I went down before Amanda as she was finishing a movie. When I got down there, there were some "entertainer" looking ladies tanning at the pool. A couple were even topless! I think it may have been a great choice to rent a place here!!! Our pool time was shortlived as we had our first daytime rain shower. Just like home, it came down hard for around 10 minutes then stopped. We ended up playing some ping pong in the clubhouse before we headed up.

We were supposed to sign our lease today, but that may not happen till Friday so we went out for housewares again. Tonight we picked up utensils, bathmats, dishes, towels etc. All for less than $30.

On the way home we ate at a chinese restaurant called Quinellas. No English here!!! We had fried noodles and beansprouts, seafood soup, bottled water and a huge Hai Zhu beer for 53 MOP which is around $7.25 CAD. What was funny is that when we came in, they brought the English menu, they didn't check to see if we were ready to order and we had to call them over. Also after we ordered, they brought us the bill before the food and they brought me chopsticks and Amanda a fork and spoon!!!!! Too funny. Amanda did ask for chopsticks before the food came, but it gave us a good chuckle.

After dinner we headed back to our apartment and tried to watch a movie, but Amanda was asleep in about 10 minutes (it was 830pm)

Day trois

Today we started off going to coffee shop that has free wifi. It is called CuppaCoffee and it is located 1 block from our place. We ended up skyping Kylisha, Erin and AJ as well as Kaidyn, who is at Tom and Pat's. For some reason I keep missing my parents whenever I call and vice versa. I'll get a hold of them soon I'm sure.

After the coffee shop we decided to try our hand at the public transit system and venture to Senado Square and the Red Market which are on the Macau peninsula across the water. We hopped on the right bus and arrived at Senado Square without incident (the way home was not quite as easy). Senado Square is like an outdoor shopping mall/market with stores like Roxy, Levis, Body Shop etc. There were also swap meet type stalls that lined the narrow market streets. This is a very historical area of Macau as there are old Portuguese government buildings as well as churches of the same era. For lunch I had a pork bread which is a seasoned fried pork chop in a bun and Amanda had fries drenched in cheese and sour cream. They were both very good.

From there we headed down one of the narrow streets to the nearby Ruins of St. Paul. This was an old church that was totally destroyed by fire except for the front facade. Just gorgeous.

This day was by far the hottest yet. Blazing sun and it felt like 40 or so degrees. Due to the het we decided to venture back. Here, just like home, the buses run loops. So when we hopped on the same bus, we quickly found out that you can't stay on past the end of the line. The driver told us we had to get off and get on at another stop. We figured it wouldn't be too far away so we got off and ended up getting a little lost trying to find the stop. Due to fact we were in bustling Macau, here there were no English signs in stores or stalls so it was definitely eye opening. Amanda kept a cool head but the combo of heat and being lost definitely did not help my cause. We eventually made it back safely although the bus was full, then packed, then ridiculously packed. It was unlike anything you see back home.

We finished the day with the pool followed by dinner at the Hard Rock and touring the Cotai Strip. The casinos were very nice, but no different than Vegas in being way over the top. Amanda did not feel well from the day's sun so we headed back home and crashed.

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Days 0-2

So we finally left on August 5th to move over to Macau. The last few days in Canada were definitely more emotional as our departure neared. We spent a couple of nights with the Bourne clan out at a B&B in Sundre, did some golfing and finally some last minute visiting with friends and family.

We flew from Calgary to San Fran and had a 4 hour layover there. We were expecting to pay an extra $400 for extra baggage in Calgary, but United did not charge us (WOOT). We claimed a nice patch of carpet and power outlet near our gate and hunkered down to rest, read and watch the movie Grown Ups (definitely some funny parts). During the layover, we were called to the gate, where they finally dinged us for the extra baggage. At least it was only $200 rather than the expected $400. Anyways we finally boarded our plane at 1 AM and we were off.

If you ever have the chance to fly Singapore Airlines, I highly recommend it. The biggest difference for me during the 12.5 hour flight was the increased leg room. We only got an extra 2-3 inches, but it definitely made a huge difference. Also the in-flight movies, games and service were outstanding. We landed in HK at 5 AM, a full hour earlier than expected.

At the HK airport, we disembarked the plane and immediately I was told by security to take off my hat! I always wear hats so i was thinking that this was not a good sign. So I peacefully took it off and stuffed it in my backpack, not really caring what my hair looked like after 20 some hours of travelling. We had to wait 5 hours for our ferry, so we took the opportunity to call people using our Magicjack and Skype. From the airport we took a direct ferry to Taipa, which is where we will be living.

We got off the ferry and WOW, was it ever hot and humid. Of course we were wearing pants, and Amanda was wearing a Lulu jacket. Amanda's principal and the school driver (Muneer) met us at the ferry terminal and took us to the school. We got to see the gym, offices and of course Amanda's classroom. After this we started apartment hunting. We checked out a few 3 and 4 bedroom places in different buildings, but did not jump on anything. We decided to go back to our temp apartment, shower (I could barely get my t-shirt off because it was so wet with sweat!) and relax a little after the long day. We were staying in a empty apartment owned by a teacher. It is a 3 bedroom in a brand new building called Pacifica Garden located fairly close to the school and all the amenities. We cleaned ourselves up and headed out to grab some dinner at a small restaurant (seated 10 peeps). I had a Szechuan udon style soup and Amanda went with the spaghetti! It was all excellent! With a couple of drinks it cost us less than $10 CAD for the meal. We can get use to this! After dinner we crashed at about 6ish and just couldn't stay up later. Too bad because Muneer was trying to call us on our cell phones about one of the apartments we viewed, the owner needed to know if we wanted it by 6:30pm that night, but we were out cold.

The next morning without knowing what Muneer called for, we texted him that we wanted that apartment. Long story short, the owner rented it out the previous night so the hunt is on again for Day 2.

Due to the time change (14 hours ahead) our first sleep was 6 PM till 12:30 AM, then we watched Hot Tub Time Machine, then slept again from 3 AM till 6 AM. What can you do when you fly around the world? We stopped at McDonalds for brekky yesterday morning. Amanda went with the Egg McMuffin and I opted for the big breakfast. One weird thing on the breakfast menu was an egg and sausage on mixed veggies and twisty pasta. I wanted to order it for a change, but was more worried about getting some food in my belly.

We spent the rest of the morning looking at apartments, and went for a 2nd breakfast at the principals place which is across the street from us. After a great visit we headed to our pool for some relaxation in the heat (see matching swim hats).

MACAU=Thong Alert

I have seen more girls in thongs at our pool yesterday, than I have my entire life.
After the pool, we met Muneer about a 4 bedroom place in the same complex we are staying in. Brand new, modern and 22nd floor with great views in both directions. We snapped it up after we negotiated leather couches that recline, wardrobes and larger softer beds. In Macau, we had to give 4 months worth of rent up front (1 realtor commission, 1st month, last month and 1 security deposit). The apartment is totally sweet and we should be in there by Wednesday or Thursday, so that will give us a week to set up before the kids arrive with Amanda's mom.

With that out of the way, last night we headed to old Taipa village which is the oldest part of the island. The area was full of temples, history and old school architecture. Definitely one of the coolest places. We ate at the Old Taipa Tavern where we had nachos and fish and chips (pretty adventurous we know!). The walk back was a beauty as we overlooked the Venetian and City of Dreams. Quite a night.

Last night we crashed at about 9:30PM and we just woke up at 4:30 AM....so definitely an improvement from night 1. Today we plan on doing some more exploring and relaxing, so I'll let you know what happens in the next day or so.

Matching Panda Swim Hats

Here are some pics of our brand spankin new "swim hats" that we had to buy to use our pool. Apparently you must wear one to get wet. Full story of our trip over coming next. Later





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6 Animals + 4 Kiats= GONGER :)

The List

Several months ago we sat down as a family and talked about the types of experiences we hoped we might have during our adventure to China. What follows is a list of 100 things we would like to do during the next two years. When we were making the list we wrote down EVERYTHING that any of the four of us thought would be a fun experience to have. As a result, we have a pretty interesting list (see if you can guess Kaid's items). We decided that we only need one person in our family to complete an experience (and hopefully get a picture or video of it for our blog) in order to cross the item off of our list. Let the adventure begin....
18 hours till departure.


Our List…A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step-Lao Tzu


1. Ride tandem bikes-COMPLETED DECEMBER 28, 2010


2. Bathe an elephant-COMPLETED APRIL 2, 2011

3. Ride in a long tail boat COMPLETED XMAS 2010 Phuket and EASTER 2014, Koh Lipe Thailand


4. Walk on the Great Wall-COMPLETED APRIL 26, 2011

5. Visit Tiananmen Square-COMPLETED APRIL 25, 2011

6. Take the tram up to the Peak in Hong Kong-COMPLETED APRIL 17,2011



7. Visit the Singapore Zoo-COMPLETED OCTOBER 25, 2010

8. See a turtle in the wild COMPLETED OCTOBER 2013 GILI TRAWANGAN, INDONESIA

9. Go to a concert-COMPLETED FEBRUARY, 2011

10. Attend the Macau Grand Prix-COMPLETED NOVEMBER, 2011
111. Experience a level 8 typhoon-COMPLETED OCTOBER, 2011


12. Try to find a bubble tea shop- COMPLETED AUGUST 13, 2010

13. Eat lumpia in the Philippines

14. Watch the HK harbour light show at night-COMPLETED NOVEMBER 26, 2010

15. Swim with Whale Sharks in the wild

16. Drink out of a coconut

17. Make 10 lifelong friends

18. Visit rice terraces-COMPLETED FEBRUARY 2, 2011

19. See Angkor Wat in Cambodia-COMPLETED August, 2011

20. Watch the sun set on a beach in Thailand COMPLETED CNY 2012 BORACAY PHILIPPINES


21. Buy and eat squid on a stick COMPLETED SOOO MANY TIMES!


22. Visit Lord Stow’s bakery and try Portuguese egg tarts - COMPLETED AUGUST 20, 2010

23. Eat at Fernando’s - COMPLETED MARCH 16, 2011

24. Have fish and chips and a pint at a British pub in Hong Kong-COMPLETED NOVEMBER, 2011



25. Get a picture of our family in front of the castle at HK Disney-COMPLETED OCTOBER 16, 2010

26. Go to Ocean Park - COMPLETED AUGUST 28, 2010

27. Rent a scooter

28. Ride in a rickshaw-COMPLETED APRIL, 2011

29. Swim in a pool at the bottom of a waterfall-COMPLETED AUGUST, 2011



30. Visit the beach where “The Beach” was filmed-COMPLETED DECEMBER 22, 2010


31. See an orangutan up close-COMPLETED OCTOBER 25, 2010

32. Volunteer at an orphanage

33. Learn a little Chinese



34. Go to a fish spa and get a pedicure from some fish-COMPLETED OCTOBER 25, 2010

35. Get a massage on the beach

36. Free a turtle or frog from a wet market

37. Get a Mah Jong set made for us

38. Hire a tailor to make us something-COMPLETED JANUARY, 2011

39. Hike to the top of a mountain-COMPLETED AUGUST, 2011

40. Go to a hot spring or mud bath

41. Eat Pho and vermicelli in Vietnam-COMPLETED AUGUST, 2011



42. Eat an ice cream sandwich like the one from The Amazing Race-COMPLETED OCTOBER 27, 2010 (AND AGAIN THE NEXT DAY)!!AND AGAIN DECEMBER, 2011

43. Become a certified diver COMPLETED EASTER 2014, Koh Lipe Thailand



44. See a jellyfish or a seahorse in the wild-COMPLETED DECEMBER 22, 2010


45. Ride on a zip line-COMPLETED WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2010

46. Walk on a rope bridge through the jungle

47. Go in a Buddhist temple (and learn more about Buddhism in general)-COMPLETED APRIL, 2011

48. Bungee jump COMPLETED SEPTEMBER 2012, MACAO TOWER


49. Feed an interesting creature-COMPLETED OCTOBER 25, 2010

50. Snorkel in 3 different countries COMPLETED 2010-2014 Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines


51. Eat in a floating restaurant

52. Find a giant bug

53. Get our fortunes told-COMPLETED JUNE 4, 2011


54. Skinny dip-COMPLETED DECEMBER 23, 2010

55. Have brunch at The Wynn-COMPLETED JUNE, 2011

56. Run a half marathon-COMPLETED DECEMBER 4, 2011

57. Golf - COMPLETED MARCH 18, 2011

58. Do 5 kindnesses for 5 strangers in 5 different countries

59. Meet someone with the last name “Kiat”

60. Go parasailing

61. Fly a kite-COMPLETED MARCH 16, 2011



62. Ride on a double decker bus- COMPLETED AUGUST 28, 2010

63. Ride on a train-COMPLETED AUGUST, 2011

64. Visit a night market-COMPLETED APRIL, 2011

65. Go camping

66. Find a store that sells Lego-COMPLETED AUGUST, 2010

67. Bali Beach-COMPLETED FEBRUARY, 2011


68. Touch a giant Buddha-COMPLETED OCTOBER 17, 2010

69. Hold a monkey-revised to feed a monkey-holding a monkey will perpetuate the killing of their mommies (as we learned on our trip to Thailand...where there PLENTY of opportunities to hold one-COMPLETED FEBRUARY, 2011

70. Make a wish at the Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree



71. Drink a Singapore Sling in Singapore-COMPLETED OCTOBER 26, 2010

72. Eat sushi in Japan



73. See fireworks-COMPLETED SEPTEMBER 18, 2010

74. Take pictures of 10 flowers we’ve never seen before

75. Celebrate Chinese New Year-COMPLETED FEBRUARY, 2011

76. Eat roti canai and sambal bunchies in Malaysia-COMPLETED OCTOBER, 2011



77. Waterslides-COMPLETED DECEMBER 23, 2010


78. Discover a new tasty treat!!-COMPLETED OCTOBER 16, 2010

79. Find cool sea shells and make a necklace or bracelet

80. Kiss a reptile-COMPLETED FEBRUARY 3, 2011

81. Dim Sum

82. Get a Chinese foot reflexology treatment



83. Buy a piece of art for our house back home-COMPLETED SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

84. Buy a traditional Chinese dress-COMPLETED January, 2011

85. Australia-COMPLETED DECEMBER, 2011

86. Learn some tai chi-COMPLETED AUGUST, 2011



87. Go to an orchid garden-COMPLETED OCTOBER 28, 2010


88. Take a cooking class-COMPLETED DECEMBER 29, 2010

89. Find cherry blossoms in the Spring-COMPLETED APRIL, 2011

90. See fireflies

91. Kayak in an ocean-COMPLETED DECEMBER, 2010


92. See a panda-COMPLETED AUGUST 28, 2010

93. Get a picture of our family in front of the castle at Tokyo Disney

94. Go in a cave-COMPLETED DECEMBER 2011


95. Go fishing-COMPLETED DECEMBER, 2010

96. Take a ride on a Junk-COMPLETED DECEMBER 2010 and AUGUST 2011 AND NOVEMBER 2011

97. Go to the goldfish and flower markets in HK-COMPLETED JUNE 4, 2011
98. Take a cruise on Victoria Harbour-COMPLETED NOVEMBER, 2011

99. Lock an engraved lock of love on the Great Wall

100. Make incredible memories with each other and with our wonderful friends and family who come to visit us!!!