Langkawi, Malaysia 2011

Here are some photos of our fall break trip to Langkawi, Malaysia.

We spent a wonderful week with the Hargreaves clan on the beach and poolside! We met our great friend Tara and her wonderful daughters Kyana and Chloe. Chloe was born last October so it was killing Amanda not having met her yet, despite numerous skype calls. We actually celebrated Chloe's 1st birthday during the trip and what better way to spend your first birthday than a day in Langkawi with Uncle Les.

We stayed at the Berjaya Resort and it did not disappoint!!!!! It was, by my account, the perfect vacation lounging and eating all week. Although Tara is a Flames season ticket holder, it was tough to say farewell to her and the girls at the KL airport.

We enjoyed it so much that we are already planning a return trip in July 2012!

ShangHai

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Learning 2.011 Conference in Shanghai at the beginning of September. It was a great conference and I really learned a lot about how to integrate more technology into my classroom.

As an added bonus I also got to spend some time exploring Shanghai. It is definitely right up there with Hong Kong as my favourite Asian city. It's architecture is amazing and the mix of old and new throughout the city is incredible. My favourite area was The French Concession. We found an amazing bakery with delicious treats...





Here is The Bund at night...









Here's me in front of the Maglev (magnetic-levitation) train. It goes over 400 km/hr and it's actually a magnet that levitates above the track...



We checked out The Jazz Bar at The Peace Hotel. Amazing music and mojitos...




Okay...in the French Concession Karen and I walked into a clothing store and I saw this cat. I thought it was fake. Not so...


In Fuxing Park my friend Karen and I tried our luck in this little beauty. We would not make very good hamsters...


We spent some time in Xin Tian Di and . AMAZING little streets and alleys lined with cool little shops and great restaurants with patios perfect for people watching...



Lots of yummy food...



I am very much hopeful that someday I will be able to visit Shanghai again (hopefully with my family). Next time...the Science Museum!

86. Learn some tai chi

There's a lot of tai chi around these parts. Any given morning in any given park you can see individuals or groups of people practicing tai chi. When we were on Halong Bay they offered early morning tai chi on the deck of our boat and Lynn and I eagerly signed up. Kylisha slept. Lynn and I both really enjoyed it and I can see why people readily do it here. It is peaceful and calming.

Here is a ridiculous photo a lady took for me specifically for the blog...








57 finished...43 more to go!

96. Take a ride on a junk

A junk is basically an old school Chinese boat. When we were in VietNam we took a cruise on Halong Bay on a junk boat. The cruise we took was pretty amazing and the best part about it was that it was Lynn's birthday while we were on board. We did a little kayaking, explored Halong Bay, and had an amazing birthday feast! Kylisha and Lynn were swimming before dinner and Kylisha got stung pretty badly by a jellyfish. Her entire arm blistered immediately and she said it felt like she had been electrocuted. The staff on board quickly rubbed lime all over her arm and covered it in burn ointment. Good times.





Halong Bay is gorgeous and we were so blessed to be able to be able to spend Lynn's birthday with her there!!

56 down. 44 more to go.

63. Ride on a train

When we went to China in Beijing we were supposed to take an overnight train from Beijing to Xi'an but the lady booking our train tickets didn't book our train tickets. So, we had to fly. But, in VietNam we took an overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa and it was interesting. And something I never want to do again. First of all, the train was old and noisy which made sleeping difficult. Plus, the gentlemen in the same train as us were chain smokers and gamblers who spent the night laughing and drinking. THEN, the train kept stopping. It would be traveling a long at a reasonable speed and then abruptly stop. Of course, I assumed the train was stopping because we were being hijacked and therefore, I ended up getting zero sleep! But, it was an experience and Kylisha and Rachel really enjoyed it. Here's a pic of our little sleeper car:



55 finished...45 remaining.

41. Eat Pho and vermicelli in Vietnam

Eating Pho in VietNam is easy. You can get it everywhere! It's mostly served for breakfast and is very similar to the Pho found in Vietnamese restaurants back home).





BUT-finding vermicelli like back home proved to be VERY difficult. Back in Canada when you eat at a Vietnamese restaurant you can order vermicelli and it will consist of noodles, some veggies, and usually some spring rolls and pork. We assumed this type of dish would be readily available in VietNam...and it wasn't. First Les and Jordan tried last December, and then we tried this summer to find it. No luck. You can get Vietnamese noodles and spring rolls and pork are plentiful, but apparently putting them all together on one plate is something unique to North America (unless we missed something while in Vietnam). Regardless, the food there is our fave. And here are some pics of some Vietnamese/Cambodian deliciousness:































54 down, 46 left to go

39. Hike to the top of a mountain

Okay, it may not have been a really big mountain, but when we were in Sapa we hiked up a mountain one day and went to a village set up on the steep mountainside. The Black H'mong villagers farm rice and corn up there, and we had lunch at our new friend Chu's home. We saw a lot of interesting things on our hike that day...







53 finished...47 more to go