Ps

There is free wifi signal on the hostal room- yeah !!

The puma city that is at 3400+m above sea level.

It's the end of our second day here in Cuzco and it's been a pretty chilled tried so far.

2 nights ago i ran into my travel buddy Kelly at starbucks in lima's airport at about one am. Then qe were both waiting for our vey early morning flights, hers at 5:30 and mine at 5:55. after getting about 2hours sleep in Lima's airport I was a plane to Cuzco! The plane ride was ultra fast because I passed out but even that was only another hour's sleep. Next thing I know we land and we deplane the cool way without the gates like how it was in some European cities.

Grabbed my bag and then going outside I ran into Kelly again! She was suppose to have an airport transfer arranged but instead it didn't show. So we both grabbed a cab to our hostel knowing we were probably paying more then we should.

After checking in we decided to head out and do a visit to some archeological sites that won'tbe covered in our little intrepid package. The funny part was when we were trying to find the damn bus and we probably walked around the atop foe about an hour and a half until we finally discovered it was this place we initially passed where a guy was hanging out of a bus screaming "pisac! Pisac !" we thought he wanted to sell us pizza cause the place was right beside a restaurant . The bus ride was 2.4 soles for about 20 minutes and we went to the highest of the four sites "tambomachay". This was our first exposure to the altitude as the site was 3700m above sea level . No matter how slow I went and how deep I was breathing my heart was racing to compensate for the lack of oxygen.

Later on we walked to another site about 10 minutes down the road to some ruins. There we negotiated with a personal guide to take us to the rest of the sites for 25 soles (we later find we missed one of the sites)- this was better as it would be a shame to just walk around and see ruins bug have no context. The most interesting fact was that Cuzco was built in the shape of a puma (one of the three natural gods; the other a condor and a lama). And the last site, sacsayhuaman , I'd the head and thx city the body (we find out the next day that the "sun church" our hostel was behind ( the " qorikancha" of great religious, ceremonial and royal sig) was the testicles and the main square (plaza de armas) is the stomach).

After he sites we hiked it down and then found ourselves in a local restaurant trying the local food (ginea pig!). The skin was super tough but the meat was somewhere between chicken and porc.

By about 5:30 pm we were beat (considering we only had two hours of sleep) and crashed at the hostel for a good .... 13 hours haha!!

Day 2 in Cuzco

Woke up to a simple breakfast and there we met the other intrepid travelers whom most flew in that morning. We met our guide armando and then we started our walking tour of the city.

The square was much more livlier on a Sunday as apparently every Sunday there is a parade -hard core!!

We then headed to a market in the center and you can probably by all you produce from here. We the group separated ANC were to meet back at the hostel at six in the evening.

Thx best part was the first section of like fifty different fresh fruit smoothie ladies trying to get you to sit down and try their drinks. We settled with a lady that had a bunch of locals at her station.

Funny thing is we initially thought "leche" meant peaches but it means milk ... Our mistake . I ordered the special which costed six soles and had almost everything in it (including maca ,raw unpasteurized honey, and a sketchy cough syrup). The thing I'd she made so much that she refilled my glass three times!

Afterwards we walked the rest of the market and picked up some fruit and nuts.

We then headed to the museo de arts ore-colombio. Which basically covered hitorical sculptures and art from various regions.

After we headed offvfor some more local food and found a restaurant that Served prarically a four course meal for 10 soles-amazing!!

After a late lunch we wandered the streets and headed back to meet with the group. Here we met our trek guides and they helped us set expectations. Three of us were doing the lares trek and the rest the inca trail. Our travel buddy joining Us on the lares trek is Adam -a dude from Australia that now lives in Florida.

They gave us a duffel to pack about 6kg of stuff for the porters to carry.

Afterwards Kelly and I went to search for some dinner and settled in this pizza restaurant full of kids (which we later found was a birthday party) and we sat at the parents table. There was live music and good food and tried the inca cols but the meal came out to forty soles which we felt we were ripped off cause ghrg charged us for the wrong sized pizza .

After dinner, wandered again came back to the hostel to rest (10 pm)

Jet planes and sleepovers in airports. It's like the euro days all over again!

Back on with the back pack but this time it's only for the standard north American two weeks and the first half of the trip is a trek in Cuzco peru and the second is a tourist trek in brazil. Lots of airplanes,airports and scenery but this time I've got the iPod handy to stay in touch and thank goodness for free wifi that has been an amazing access to info and handy with calls with the skype application.

It's such a nice and memorable feeling when you hear other languages other than English around you and I think if I tried to learn Spanish I could pick it up pretty fast as the French and Italian is coming in handy to recognize the grammatical and word similarities. Too bad next week I'll have to try to have my crack at portuguese!

Anyways 5 more hours till my next flight into cuzco and finally I can go explore!

Anniversary

Dec 1, (well technically it's now the 2nd) - and it marks exactly one year since I have been back in Canada. It was one of the most depressing / nostalgic / exciting moments in my life; it was such a huge cycle of emtions that I've never experienced before - but ultimately it has led me to a new life and a new home - one that I very much enjoy. I won't lie when I say I miss Europe, but when I leave vancouver I too miss it here. It's odd as my life has changed so much even from last year, and yet my living situation and the way I live my life is quite similar to before; new friends (european friends hee hee), all bicycle and just chillin' - the only difference is that I feel that I am healthier and more active than ever... and never have I experienced so many sports injuries in one year... i guess it either means I'm getting old... or I'm just putting myself more at risk - probably both. But that's it - just wanted to write that... man I am now a year and a few months behind on my euro blogging (yes there's tons more to put up). End of the year - that's my goal!

Damn it - not again!

The Flames' season came to an end Tuesday night after a hard-fought 5-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks in Game 7 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal Series. Jarome Iginla set a personal record with nine points in a single round. |

Aside from a great w/e back in c-town...

Calgary stumbled out of the gate, giving up three goals in the first four minutes of Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals, but the Flames showed true playoff grit and battled back to win the contest 4-3 over the Sharks Sunday in Calgary.

I've never enjoyed it so much to be at a gate at the Calgary Airport as there were TVs playing the last period of this intense game at every gate and crowds gathered around the 24 or so inchers. It was intense but Nolan capped it off nicely and the team fought off another questionable delay of game penalty in the last 3 mins... when the buzzer hit zero - I high-fived several people and at the exact moment Westjet announced pre-boarding - and since I was at an exit row (always try to get these!) I was able to get on to the plane first!

What else I did the past three days - well landed on Friday night - the day after calgary received it's greatest snowfall in 20 years (yet when I got there, there was not sight of it to be seen)... went boarding in EXTREME spring conditions with Marc at louise, picked up another paycheck at MM lulu and my Staff bonus card (yeah!), hung out with the cousins and gorged on some GREAT Pho in the NE, visited grandpa at the cemetary to pay for respects and ask for luck in getting Caren's house sold, went for diiiiim sum in Chinese town and had a little catch up with Clara, went home, packed, then went out to meet ALL the cousins again for a goodbye dinner for Eldonitos, gorged on some desert at Cheesecake and discussing the 3-0 dificit of calgary (boo)... then went home, grabbed stuff and was sent off by Germie, Mom and Caren as patrons in the airport Kelsey's celebrate a comeback of 3-3! and the airport announces the good news.... and then at the gate waiting to get back to van.... yea!

GO FLAMES!

Oh Edmonton.... you WOULD drag the Canucks down with you.

Alex Burrows scored a power play goal with 6:57 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to one, but the Canucks lost a heartbreaker to the Oilers, 2-1, Thursday at GM Place, eliminating Vancouver from the playoff race

Sorry Edmonton but this ain't no April fools :D

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Owen Nolan scored the winning goal with 3:44 left in regulation, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over Edmonton and eliminating the Oilers from the Western Conference playoff race.

Calabria, Part Due (Augusto 2007)

LARGE POST of amazing Italian adventure part 2: setting: from the beaches of Schilla, Bagnara, Palmi to the countryside of Sant Eufemia D'Aspromonte to the mountain resort of Gambarie to the Miami-like city scapes of Reggio Calabria.The next seven days is now a three-some as my Vancouver born , fellow Amsterdamer friend Ching-Yin Foo joins us for our Italian and Canadian adventures. The first day, Domenico takes us back into the capital city of Reggio Calabria, located on the boot toe of Italy, across from the island of Sicily. It is situated at the base of the Aspromonte to take us for a tour and explore the sites - pointing out each of the important buildings - this guy really knows his stuff since Domi was elected to take on the responsibility of promoting foreign investment in the area.
The main attraction though was The National Museum of Greater Greece, housing the two famous Bronze di Riace statues. The museum was quite extensive and floor after floor with local architectural grecian findings.
No pictures allowed! but the asianess takes over and I tell CY to pose for a quick shot! yea.From wiki: During the Roman Empire it was called Rhegium Julium as a noble Roman city. Later Reggio di Calabria became a Byzantine city, and in the 12th century, it became part of the Kingdom of Sicily, and then in the 13th century, it became part of the Kingdom of Naples.

Reggio Calabria is known as the location of the first dated Hebrew book, a Rashi commentary on the Pentateuch, printed in 1475; ^[1] however, scholars consider Rome as the city where Hebrew printing began.

For Reggio di Calabria, the worst earthquakes came in 1783 and on December 28, 1908. The latter quake was the most devastating. Some 80 percent of all buildings in Reggio collapsed and many thousands were killed. Damage was even worse in Messina across the straits. That quake remains the worst on record in modern western European history. It took Reggio a generation to fully recover.

later on we met up with Diego and his brother Antonio who were in the city. We joined the guys for a quick drink and local appies / snacks and then after an hour later were off on their own to do some business.
the Fiat 500, what was then a new model.mmmm.. Gawd... it would be tragedy to not have the daily Granita with a brioche (pastry). This is gooooooooood stuff!
we stroll along the seaside to take in the windy, sunny and hot weather.RTL, a national radio station speically chose Regio Calabria as a promotion and broadcasting from the city with lots of festivities following. It is a very good radio station to get an idea was is currently popular in italy.


this place I just wanted to take a pic on their deck, but when we asked, the owner unfortunately was not as warm to the idea... darn missed the shot.. but maybe next time!

After a tiring day, we headed back to the house in Sant Eufemia D'Aspromonte, packed up our stuff , loaded it up in the car and then UP the mountain to Gambarie we went to stay in ... Domenico's family's cabin... yes these Italians are baller. The drive up the mountain was insane as the lane was enough for 1.5 cars. Everytime cars pass each other.. there's some system for one car to yield to the next.. I believe the people going uphill yield to those guys going down.. buses and trucks are a little more tricky though.



Stepping out into the mountain air was quite the difference from teh seaside... and it definitely reminded me of the air we have back at home in Calgary.
The cabin was NICE with four levels : Kitchen on the first, living on teh second, bedrooms on the third and bedroom and attic on the top - four beds all together. It felt like something in a movie and the whole place was just so cozy... totally something I did not expect on my litle Italian trip - this dude really know's how to impress.
Rocco's homemade red vino!plenty of meats and fresco pasta sauce in Pina's kitchen.
once settled in, we finnaly chill out after a day of movin' and watch the Da Vinci Code! Man satellite as well.
Every morning, the sun wakes me up and Domenico's mom is already hardcore at work cleaning the house like mad. I go for a run to explore the forest area and take in the paths.
Later in the day, once the rest of teh crew wakes up, we head back down the mountain to Saint'Eufemia Aspromonte and back to bagnara (where the fashion show was) but this time we pay a visit to the beaches on this 35 some degree day.

We arrive and find Domenico's Aunt (zia) has already set up camp with her children Yolanda, Giuseppe and visiting niece Franchesca (from venezia). Giuseppe was fishin out a storm with his buddy and sister as by the time we got there there was already six catches in their little bucket.






CY later dives into the crystal blue-green waters... she later learns there are real fish swimming around her.. which apparently grosses her out.
CY passes out here and there.



for lunch, Domi and I walk to a local bakery flooded with lots of other locals buying their lunch. Domenico eyes a few slices of pizza and also purchases a local snack called the arancino: They are fried or, less commonly, baked rice balls, having a diameter of 8-10 cm, filled usually with ragù (meat sauce), but also with tomato sauce, mozzarella, peas, and other things. On the outside they are simply breadcrumbs.unfortunately CY and I could only take one slice and a bit of the arancini as it was a little hard to eat something so hot in already scorching 36 degree heat - but the lunch was generously treated by Domi and only wanted us to taste the delicious local specialties , but bit by bit we ate as muhc as we could before the itis took over!


and like many European beaches, Domi insisted on taking a five minute video of this gorgeous girl taking a cool down in the local doccia . even CY thought she had a great body - and she did! those italians... so dirty - but so true haha!the umbrella was my only refuge from the cancer-inducing sun. Yes I have become that age already - omg I have become my mother.
After many hours on Bagnara's beach, we were about to head as the heat was starting to get too intense for even the three of us by midday. We headed up to the local Torre (tower) and took in more sites of the city and and the amazing views. After Bagnara - we headed back to the countryside in Sant Efumia where we saw many more of hte cougini as well as nonno and nonna (grandpa and grandma) - you couldn't have gotten anymore home-movie like than this! My goodness they were some of the cutest Italian grandparents I have ever come across.
Nonna's impressive giardino.


the blue table actually reminded me that they were teaching us a card game - darn it I forgot the name already but CY and I were getting our asses kicked by the little ones and the grandparents.



head of the clan. Domenico tried to get me to call him "padrino" (i think) haha.
Afterwards, we went to pick up Valentina from Palmi and then headed back up into the Gambarie to have another GREAT italian dinner. Domi's mom also knows how to impress. Seriously - I think all southern-italian women know how to cook very well - no wonder all of the men look so well fed ;P

mmm - eggplant.after stuffing ourselves with dinner - Rocco insisted we try dipping the fruit into wine and then eating it. like instant sangria haha.

After the dinner, we chilled out again in front of the TV to another movie and remember passing out about half -way (as usual haha).

Now I can't remember what we did the next day (i'm sure I got the order of the pictures wrong) but there was lots of chillin as I would go for a run every morning, and then hit the italian lessons that I printed for myself. After going through the first tutorial and referencing off of my french I was able to form broken sentences in Italian.

Later that evening, we all got ready for a dinner back at the country-side as Francesca's family was in town (from Venezia/Treviso) thus the entire family was here (I think).

stop on the way down form the mountain to get so shots at dusk.

domenico's zio owned a bakery that basically supplied the small city with it's baked goods - it was a hardcore setup connected to the house - beside it was the accounting office of his parents. talk about minimal comute - you literally roll out of bed and at work!

Giuseppe (pico) was firing some BB shots at a target posted on a tree and insisted CY and I try it out. His uncle was giving us lessons on how to properly fire the weapon - haha that's right mom. Sign me up for the next mafia!
I sorta hit the black parts.
Rocco and Pina.Now for me - THIS was the MOST memorable experience. It was a little dream of mine to experience an outdoor Italian dinner with an italian family. I don't know why - maybe blame all of that media (like the McCain commercials) but I also imagined it to be at a long table with loud Italian conversations going on and food being passed everywhere. Thanks Domi for unintentionally fulfilling this little dream of mine! An experience I could never forget.
I love how the Italians embrace the bbq stylz of cookin.

lots of fresh food to go around. there's nonno at the head of the table (of course)Rita's and Mario's padre, and this was one funny dude. The whole time he insisted on communicating with me / in Italian of course, which I loved but had trouble following along unless he used super simple words and talked really slow. I think he embarassed the hell out of Rita - which was even more fun!
they of course broke out the gelatini. bite-sized gelato in a rainbow of flavours.
The night ended too well by trying to take in the whole experience.



After many hours we headed back to the house and off to bed. I was usually last to go as I would stay up readin up on more Italian until I got tired and dragged myself back up into the attic.
We learn that there was a special festival going on in Gambarie, as they were also unveiling the opening of a renovated center square with a complete redone waterfall/fountain art piece.
at the break of the day, Domi took us to the local Dam which was about a 30-40 minute drive. I think he mentioned it was the largest dam in southern italy? (blast my horrid memory!)
We then drove a little further and hit one of the well known hiking trails in the area to a cascate (waterfall). Now this was my kind of vacation! plenty of nature, sun and activity! CY and I were all about it! Valentina not so much when it got too naturey...


domi figuring out the path.
trail markers.
weird pea/seed looking things from the trees.



gorgrous day for a hike - I swear there was yet to be a day without sunshine.

mountain and valley views. A little after this, Valentina was gettin a little tired and irritate and insisted they head back. So Domi accompanied her back while CY and I were destined to see the waterfall.water fall with 10x zoom! I think it would have taken another 2 hours to wind down the perilous mountain to get to it. yes it was a little anti-climatic.

some boulders at the edge of the cliff for some pristine yoga shots. look at that skinny asian!
hike back to tree lined trails.
wild cows?! nope, there was a farm nearby.. on the mountain! Omg is right CY!some more prestine yoga ops in the creeks. good thing CY well asian-experienced with the camera.

when we were back in Gambarie, we headed back into the ski town and took the chair lift (albeit the slow sloooow chair lift - but we made last chair!) to take in more breathless mountain views. Yes Domi did know how to spoil his guests haha.
After a full day of activities, we headed to the local grocer shop to pic up come sandwiches and also some gifts for our friends and family back at home. We brought back some Calabrian specialties.


via..gro? perperoncino - one of my favourite words.all the produce in here looked so good... but was getting pricey.. I think I spent about 75 euros here and my baggage was already full enough!

After lunch, Domi and Valentina took a little siesta while CY and I headed out to check out the new centre square and fountain and decided to people watch at a bench in the middle of the place. All eyes were on us.. what are those asians doing!? haha. man i thikn we sat there for like 1.5 hours.


oohh.. the fancy new fountain.

another amazing cena prepared by pina. Oh those egg thingys.. damn they were good. this time it was local beefsteak and sausages.Our last days in Calabria, I remember taking these shots as Sunday was a big market day as all the vendors (more so than usual) come out to sell fresh produce and almost any simple good imaginable. darn I whould ahve boughten some of those italian football jerseys... but couldn't bargain the guy down. at least CY got a good deal on some nice lookin' sunglasses!
my favourite "tree" in the middle of a field on teh drive between Gambarie and Sant Eufemia.

back at Sant Eufemia with our luggage. this was a cool shot when the household was getting a fresh delivery of firewood. now you don't see that everyday!

The next day we went to Valentina's city of Palmi to check out the local beach. One last time to take in the prestine blue waters and the Italian seaside before the fantasy was over.

haha this is what we all look like after doing a whole lotta nothing for many hours. the heat was taking its toll on us canadians.
parents were very cute and treated us to lunch... yes Italians are super generous - we tried to do the asian sneakiness of paying for the bill but they are too fast - yes I let my people down.



Last day and last meal with the family out in the sunny backyard of the Rositano house. Domi's sister's friend was also visiting from Treviso (Christina) and her vacation was just beginning as ours was ending.

Haha I remember one time, we went to grab a granita/cafe and one of the local 'bar' (or cafe) and CY and I met some people who we learned was a dude that was head of the mafia or something a rather... I just remember gettin really excited and we were both like damn which we had our camera... then again maybe not.also went to see a very famous landmark where Giuseppe Garibaldi, landed here with 3,000 volunteers in his march towards Rome, was defeated and captured in the Battle of Aspromonte. from wiki: Garibaldi is considered an Italian national hero as he personally led many of the military campaigns that brought about the formation of a unified Italy. He has been dubbed the "Hero of the Two Worlds" in tribute to his military expeditions in South America and Europe.

the entire Rositano family came with us to Reggio Calabria and we sat together and had one last Granita with them. After spending ten intimate days with Domi's family, they really opened up their arms to us and it's an experience I WILL NEVER forget. It has been engrained into my brain with fantastic memories and experiences I know I will find myself back in Calabria hopefully in the near future. Rocco, Pina, Domi, Sissi and the rest of the family really reminded me of the similarities between their family and my own and it was definitely something that was much needed after being away from home for 8 months. GRAZIE MILLE Domi e Famiglia Rositano - Ching-Yin and I cannot express our gratitude to you all with this amazing experience

right before taking us back into town, Domenico takes us for a tour around the city/town of Sant Eufemia and runs into an old school friend and catches up for a little bit.
After some goodbyes to Sissi, Rocco, Pina and Christina, Domi escorts us to the airport. When we arrive, we learn that the plane was an hour late getting here from Milan... no problem.. I palnned for up to a 2 hour delay to catch our connection to Amsterdam in Milan... that is until the delay was almost three hours delayed...

here is CY, not impressed with the tardiness of Italian transportation (haha what they are famous for too!) We both wish we got flight insurance (I thought my travel insurance covered this but when I called.. nope)...
nevertheless the plane makes it AND in my mind kept calculating over and over but the times were just too pressed and we would have missed our connection for sure... it would have been expensive to fly back to amsterdam if we missed it - I remember that day CY messaged Dennis for me to tell work I wasn't going to make it in for work the next day.
BUT..... LUCKILY our connection was ALSO 1.5 hours - 2 hours DELAYED (i think the flight actually left at 23:30)... omg I remember thinking "there is a god!" man were we lucky.
CY impressed that the stars were in our favour. haha I remember how we devised a plan after getting off the bus that transported us to the terminal. CY was going to go the agent with a sob story if need be to allow us to check in VERY LATE (usually it's a 45 min cut off) while I elbow my way to get our checked luggage. I remember every minute felt like an hour as it took them sooooooo long to get our luggage out (I think it was actually 15 minutes.. which was time we didn't really have). I remember almost hittin some little girl in teh head when I finally spotted CY suitcase. Once I was out the doors into the main hallways.. CY was waiting right around the corner going "HURRY UP!!!! I found someone to let us check in late but we have to hurry ... so just imagine TWO Asian Canadians SPRINTING down the hallways with our rolleys in the airport as Italians were jumping out of the way to let us through. Thank goodness the super nice (and cute) italian counterperson got us through despite us checking in an hour after the cutoff time. Oh mio Dio.We make it on our Transavia flight!! And it was an odd sensation to hear Dutch again.. right there and then was when it hit me that our little Italian adventure was over.

Here I post CY's note, a summary of our adventures that she put up on Facebook;

"Calabria - An alphabetical guide in chronological order

8:27am Thursday, Aug 30, 2007

*Much thanks to Carlson, who let me tag along on his invitation from Domenico. And of course, much gratitude to Domenico's family for taking such good care of their Canadian visitors. It was far and beyond anything I could have expected*

Vacation– (n) A period of time in which one does nothing whatsoever.

Reinforcements – (n) Restocking of supplies which almost made it into the luggage.
Deodorant: 4 Euros, sunscreen: 14 Euros.

Hot – (adj) All-enveloping oven of warmth; standard unit of Calabrian temperature. Ie: it is hot as hell; it is unbelievably hot; I think the hot has fried my brain. Accounts for siesta

Siesta – (n) Mandatory 20 minute nap after lunch

O Mio Dio – (adj) The most succinct description of Calabria. Usually enunciated in slow, awed tone. Applies to all parts of the following: the food, the weather, the salt content of the surrounding seas. Particularly applicable to: summer tomatoes.

Summer tomatoes – (n) tomatoes with zing, attributed by locals to natural sunlight exposure.
They taste so damn good, yes yes.

Internet – (n) notable only when used in question: Dove posse usare l’internet?

Niente – (n) Ni-en-teh Nothing. Usually indicated and accompanied by hand splaying motion in front of chest area, usually with a downward turned palm. Interchangeable with non capito.

Non Capito – (v) Expression of non-understanding. Sufficient indication with blank stare.

Lentemente – (adj) Slow; Slower. As in Ching-Yin, you speak English too fast. Lentemente, please. Usually accompanied by downward motioning of hand. Also applicable to walking pace.

Cantonese – (n) non native dialect of Calabria. Allows for discussion of otherwise sensitive topics, such as How do we pay?; Is this normal?; If she feeds me anymore, I am going to die

Rapido – Opposite of lentemente. Applicable to eating pace

Perverse – (n) Pervert. Ie: Domi spent a whole day documenting the activities of a gorgeous topless sunbather. Peverse!

Putana – (n) Bitch

Bastardo – (n) Bastard. Female form: Bastarda

Travel Insurance – (n) Necessary piece of travel package when traversing through Italy. Mitigates missed flight connections caused by flight delays. Much more civilised than begging at a check-in counter.

Peeling – (v) The effect of not waiting long enough after sunscreen application to hit the water. General duration: 1 week, followed by enormous sense of relief. Ie: Thank god i'm done peeling!"

by the time we landed back at Schipol it was about 1:30 am and when back in the city it was 2ish... the trains were only running one an hour so CY went baller stylz and got a taxi back to the centre. her treat! man wa sI spoiled.. I was def going to wait for a train.

THANKS CY! wouldn't have had as much fun without a fellow Canuk to balance it out!

Ciao a Tutti!

The big board at Prins Hendrikkade and Stationsplein

click for bigger size.

Now that I have more time to post random stuff - this was a GIANT board over the renovations over at central station against the wall of one of the canals right buy the bus stop I used to take (the god ol' 22 or 48 to Schloterdijk) and I thought it was one of the most interesting photographs capturing so many different (sort of) kinds of people and expressions. haha. they all have that "what is he taking a picture of" look that I too often get.

It's odd when you're intent on looking for something specific and happens to be there. Method. It's sad but this is stuff I get excited about now.

Method. All - natural body and home biodegradable products in sweet looking recycled packaging that will make you want to re-use it! check it out - they even have it at Shoppers.

"Sustainable is Good" is a ... hmm. good website!

Check it out!

So today I went to make a trip to Shoppers Drug Mart at Broadway and Commercial to stock up on toiletries but this time the trip was a little different. After having being under the Jan's and Becky's roof and operatin under lulu's be more aware of what you are using and throwing away daily routines - I have become MUCH more aware of what I am buying in terms of products.

This time I found myself MORE so 1) looking for organic, natural products 2) in packaging that was attractive enough for me to want to re-use it and made out of recycled PET - and preferably biodegradable 3) and not rediculously premiumly priced (hey at the "Everything for a Dollar store" they had 2-ply toilet paper made from recycled, biodegrable paper, so it doesn't always have to break the bank).

This is sort of aligning of what I just decided to be a three month goal to completely phase out the plastic grocery and shopping bag. after watchin a documentary on cbc the other day about our friend the plastic bag and the devastating effects it has on the environment - and also noting in Amsterdam I was already livin without taking plastic bags at the grocer (I absolute hate the cupboard jammed with hundreds of bags) - I am convinced life can be lived easily without them just buy changing certain habits. now to figure out how to get fresh produce into something that's sustainable, re-usable and not so flimsy...

here's an interestin article I stumbled upon the other day from the site above:

January 24, 2008

Whole Foods Market to Eliminate Plastic Bags by Earth Day

Whole Foods Market announced this week it plans on eliminating all plastic grocery bags from its US, UK and Canadian stores with the goal to be plastic bag free by April 22, 2008 (Earth Day).

The leading natural and organic foods supermarket chain has been conducting tests eliminating plastic bags in its San Francisco, Austin and Toronto markets. The tests were well received by customers and paved the way for their chain wide plan to remove plastic shopping bags from their stores.

In order to help facilitate the plan the company is aggressively pushing reusable bags including their new "Better Bag" The Better Bag is made from 80% rPET fabric and is designed to be shopper friendly by being larger and easier to use than other reusable bags.

Whole Foods is the first US supermarket chain to commit to completely eliminating disposable plastic grocery bags. The company estimates the impact of its plan will be felt immediately keeping 100 million bags out of landfills in 2008 alone.

New place, new job, new life!

So I did it... I actually reached my "5 year plan to move to vancouver" goal, working for a company I fully support (and vice versa), found a great gorgeous little place to live near work, yet in a cool little neighbourhood (Commerical Dr) and so far with some awesome roomies that share very similar views as moi - I mean these people take it further by eating as much organic as they can (but aren't vegetarians), are into almost every imaginable outdoor activity (that's hot), and is as much into recycling / re-using etc as I am (and more so - composting? sweet!) and I can totally joke around and pull the race card on these people and they would only take it with a grain of salt - man I could be their third wheel for the next few months. Today when I went to safeway though, I came back with 8 plastic grocery bags - they must hate me now... haha jk!

what else did I discover? the little "public transit" link on google maps! HOMG is right CY.

I found it it takes 22 minutes to WALK to work (about 2k), or jog... or run - let alone if I take public transit (17 minutes) or bike (tbd) - sweet MOTHER- maybe I can live without a car (for now) - just have to get up to those mountains somehow... that's what phil is for (wahoo!).

Lots of big and good changes!!

Last night I was "surprised" that there was a cousins get together! It was nice as a going away and also to see the new beautiful baby boy that belongs to my cousin clem before my move to vancouver.
The party was lots of fun and it's crazy how many big changes are occurring such as new babies, new engagements, new jobs, new boyfriends, and new homes!

I'm sure next time we get together many things will be different again and Kalan and Kyan will be much much bigger! who knows... maybe there will be another baby! not mine hopefully though...

Schilla, Calabria, Italia (Augusto 2007) Part Uno

Well it's about time I blogged about my travels to Calabria - I hope I didn't so my best Italian buddy Domenico disrespect by not being able to do it until now, but I will admit that the trip took a hell of ALOT of pitures and videos and the thought of attacking was too daunting until I came back home... so here goes -

I met Domenico back in Venezia, as he was the one that graciously picked Ana-Maria, Camilo and I up from teh airport in Treviso and drove us from and to the airport. He was also our personal guide to show us the best of Treviso, Venezia and for that I felt and still feel deeply indebted to my main Italian Man. With an open invitation to visit his home in the south of Italy I immediately started to look into booking my flights to a region that is not commonly accessed by tourists. After figuring out one of the most complicated routes using skyscanner.net (a god-send website!) I was able to book an amsterdam - lamezia, Reggio Calabria - amsterdam return for about 350 EUR. By far the most I have spent on airfare for a European trip, but well worth it! What's even funnier is that I will take FOUR different airplanes to and from Amsterdam. After telling some of my best AMS people that I will be making a trip out there, my good friend Ching-Yin booked a flight to come four days after me as her chosen sunny summer destination of the year.

Calabria, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea (wikipedia, 2008). The region is a beautiful coastal paradise where many non-italiani tourisiti have yet to visit but is where many italians do flock down to on their own vacations. The little "inner" rivalry between northern and the southern italians exist as the accent, and dialiects differ quite dramatically (well for them at least) and that the south is well known for their food, sunny spots, and warm family-like welcoming atmosphere, but don't expect to find a huge amount of English speakers here as it comes no where near as close as you'll find in the northern , and what is deemed, the "richer" regions of italy.

More on the languages (from wiki):

Although the official national language of Calabria has been Standard Italian since unification (1861), as a consequence of its deep and colourful history, Calabrian dialects have developed that have been spoken in the region for centuries. The various dialects are divided into two different language groups. In the northern one-third of the region, the Calabrian dialects are considered a dialect of the Neapolitan language called Northern Calabrian. In the southern two-thirds of the region, the Calabrian dialects are considered part of the Sicilian language and are grouped as Southern Calabro.

Other historical languages have left an imprint on the region. In isolated pockets, as well as some quarters of Reggio Calabria (historical stronghold of the Greek language in Italy), a hybrid language that dates back to the 9th century, called Griko, is spoken. A variety of Franco-Provençal can also be found in certain communities and French has had an influence on many Calabrian words and phrases. In several villages, the Arbëresh dialect of the Albanian language has been spoken since a wave of refugees settled there in the 15th century. In addition, since Calabria (as well as other parts of southern Italy and Sicily) were once ruled by the Spanish, some Calabrian dialects clearly exhibit Spanish influences.

Sun sets, while waiting for our gate to Stansted at Schipol airport.

So my adventures begin flying form Amsterdam to Stansted at 9pm and overnighting it at the airport and taking a 5:55 am flight down to Lamezia Terme (below) - a city that is about an hour away from Reggio Calabria, where I was suppose to head. It was upon recommendation by Domenico to fly to Lamezia because Ryan Air flies there outside of Stansted - so I took his advice.
My way to Stansted was via Easyjet, and then landing there after about a 45 minute delay, I was planing to scope out a place to sleep early and wake - up at about 3am to check-in to my flight. Instead I stayed up and studied Italian using the free tutorials at www.ielanguages.com (highly recommend!) until about 4am. Also because all the good spots to sleep in were already taken up by people, I remember reading on a website that it was very common for people to overnight it there, but that it would be near freezing because they always turn off the heaters in the place (i remember the painfulness of overnighting it at Geneva). By the time I was ready to check in, I thought I would have been one of the first.. btu turning the corner at the Ryan Air check in desks, it was FILLED with people. Man, how do these people get here and wake up so early?! As there was about 11 desk, and about 11 flights, then there was only ONE check in desk for each flight - so of course it took forever. Finally gettin my bags in - head down, board the plane and after sitting on the runway knowing that we were about to take off - they announce delays to the flight because someone that checked in but didn't show up at the gate had to have had their bags removed; which in turn made us lose our take off point; which in turn cause a 1.5 hour dealy in the take off. All this time I tried to keep Domi up to date. on happenings through text messaging. After about two hours of delays, I finally made it! Picked up my bag, headed into the very small meeting area where Domenico and his girlfriend Valentina picked me up. From there we headead out into the searing 30-some degree heat into his pimpin Mercedes and gased it to his beach house in Scilla, a small, but well known by the Italians, beach town in the Calabria region.

(Scilla is a town in Calabria, Italy, administratively part of the Province of Reggio Calabria. It is the traditional site of the sea monster Scylla of Greek mythology.

Twenty-two kilometers from the city of Reggio Calabria, Scilla lies in front of the strait of Messina, and it is composed by two sides: the downtown, where the town offices and the patronal saint residence have place, and Marina di Scilla, the beach side, populated by tourists and thus heavily characterized by hotels and restaurants. Since its beach is the first place north of Reggio Calabria where the waters are not cooled down by the strait draughts, Scilla is very frequented during the summer period, including by people from neighbourhing towns and cities.

The beach is dominated by the Ruffo Castle, a fortress wished by the Dukes of Calabria.)

Domi ended up coasting along the scenic route, and what a route it was! The roads would pass through valleys and hills rowed with olive trees and wind about the mountain sides beside the shores of the gorgeous and turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea.

We soon arrived at his beachfront appartment that they were renting and I met his cousin Rita, and again his sister Sissi (may have spelled that wrong) and then off to the beach we ran! It was luckily I arrived the day I arrived (about July 27th or 28th) as I was able to enjoy the beach house for four nights and five days until we had to move it up to his house in teh country-side (and later to the mountains).



The video above shows the drive into town. the streets are so Narrow in Schilla that many times when cars are passing each other, one has to stop and move to the side (by where the cars are parked so the other one can pass... who has right of way? I have no idea.

The next few days were filled with sunny sunny days on the beach, volleyball with his older cousin giuseppe and his friends on occasion and lots and lots of good eatin' (how can you go wrong wiht hte food in italy?!)

Valentina just finished her accounting studies and has a job all lined up in Florence with KPMG. Rita is studying medicine at a University in Schilla and is a hell of a cutie especially with the language barrier between us - but her and her brother (giuseppe) who we played some v-ball with once in awhile are definiately my favourity of his cousins (which I soon learned that there are many just like us Chiense families!)



These guys were very impressive as they were able to carry around so much stuff to sell. I remember one time the word "Chino" slipped out of his mouth and Sissi got mad at teh guy. Of course I knew who he was referring to, not hard, but it was nice of her to defend. Domi's sister is a law student and I believe may be articling at this point if I remember.
These two would be on a rollercoaster of emotions, but I soon learn that it must be normal Italian behaviour.
I sorta find it arousing / overbearing with the Italian scolding but man was Valentina excellent at it! Kept that misbehavin' Domi in line I say. (The above was basically for me and translated as "why the hell are you taking pictures all the f'n time?!!") - perke sono Cinese!
Lido was our main beach where we hung out most of the time. You usually had to rend out an umbrella spot (with two loungers) for the day and for front row sea view, it was about 9 EURs or so which wasn't bad.Should see how these guys get ready.. man it is one of the funniest videos - but also very italian I guess.




Here's Domi's sister and her friend Sergio (although nobody knew what was going on with them - whether they were just friends, friends with benefits or more than that.)So the agenda for the next four days: wake up, cafe (domi would have a chocolate filled cornetto (croissant)), beach with newspaper, lie in the sun (for me in the shade on the most part), then a small, dip, sun to dry off, nap...lunch prepared by Sissi, (very good lunch at that!), beach, nap, beach, maybe some volleyball with his cougini Giuseppe, maybe a cafe or granita, some beach until dinner time, some kind of night time activity and then off to bed (man what a life!)On the second night, Domi's parents drove in from the country side and stayed at the beach house, we went out for pizza and where some of the family dynamics started to come out! Rocco was a big but warm guy and his mom Pina you can tell was a very strong woman and had definite authority in the household... I guess that would apply to many households in the world.Certain days I would try my best to learn Italian to try to communicate with his family and friends... well I tried my best.. I had to have the simple phrases down and by the fourth day I was able to form simple sentences by thinking what I had to say in French and somehoe italianizing it - i think it would have been easier if I knew Spanish.



The third day was AMAZING. Domi arranged a private boat ride with one of his friends Diego. His father was an important man in the Italian government (I think head economist - if my memory serves, but don't quote me on that one). So by about mid afternoon when the sun was still high and sizzling, Sissi, Rita, Domi and I met up with Diego at the Marina and we set off on an unforgettable a boat ride on the Tyrrhenean and Ionian seas.
We toured around the edge of Sicilia and then we went around the other side of the island to find a secluded beach (that would have taken 3 hours by car from the city of Messina, but only 20 minutes by boat).



Messina
All in all if you look at the map above, looking at the "bird"-shaped head on the left, we went around that , back towards Schilla and up towards Bagnara. The shot above was taken about 100 meters from the shore near bagnara.. sort of.. but you can see how clear the waters are. I still have a fear of something coming up to eat me when I'm in the open sea so I stayed in the boat, but Domi tried his best to persuade me to go in. But before that, when we went to the secluded part on Sicilia, there was one point where Diego anchored his boat in the middle of the water and we ended up all jumping in the sea and swimming to the beach that was about 100 meters away.





When we got there, there were some families and what was funny was that there were these kids there all slimbing up this huge hill of sand and just tumbling down it out of control. So Domi dared me to do it... and at frst I said no, but then Diego said he would go with me... so we ran up the hill (and man did that tire me out fast). after counting three... I rolled all the way down) and after spinning our of control, I found out he didn't and they all just laughed and cheered.
That's right laugh at the gullible Canadian Chinese guy. Next thing we headed form the beach and swam back to the boat. For me I thought that was quite a neat experience in itself as I don't consider myself a water person but the experience was awesome. Thanks a million Domi and Diego!!!




The house of Diego (lower left)

View of Scilla on the walk back from the Marina

By the time we docked back at the marina - we thanked Diego and said we would see him later as there was a big Fish grill planned at one of the beaches and a gathering of the local professionals and politicians (insert the "oooh fancy" here).
On the walk back, there was again the most amazing lighting and sunset and had to use the chance to get some good yoga shots on the rocks and of the town.
Local Italiano packin' up after a hard day

So after gettin' back to the beach, we headed back home as the sun peeked behind the horizon and got ready for the big fish grill. The whole family dressed up for the affair and once we were all ready we walked down the wooden side walk past all teh vendors to the other side of the beach and finally found a place where they had a long table set up. As more and more people filed in Domi introduced me to many locals and also foreign Italian people that he too met for the first time. Everyone was mingling as I just stood there, took pictures and to just take in the atmosphere. the rest of teh night was enjoying the warm night air, the outdoor kareoke and the fantastic food that was set out in front of us.

they grilled the specialty fish from the region - pesce spada or swordfish



For me, I always found it to be a dream of somesort to be in the middle of an italian meal outdoors as you would see in the movies. you know, in that large backyard, everyone speakin loudly and passing around the food... this was what it was like, but at night and on a beach. It think I am thinking of some pizza commercial though.... probably something McCain's or Delicio conjured up in my memory. Anyway, my experience here was definiately way beyond expectations. Later that night after the dinner, Domi, Valentina and I set out to Bagnara, a nearby coastal city to check out a local fashion show and to end of the night with some of the areas famous Granita that Iw as getting addicted to. The night was filled with lots of festivities and just people out and about.



The next day, it was the last day at the beach house there was not as much beach time as we had to pack up all the belongings and move stuff out to Domi's house in the countryside of St. Eufemia D'Aspromonte, where Domenico's family is from.




The movie above show's the 1.5 minute walk from doorstep of the beach house to the lounger on the beach. Man now that's location! Ciao!

We packed everything we could in his parent's SUV and by the afternoon we dropped off Valentina back at home in her city, Palmi which was about 30-40 minutes away. However, on the way, we stopped by a new building where her and her family where building a new condo comlpex and it looked like one of those complexes you would see in the movies in holleywood just the way it was laid out and the fact it was jammed right into the side of the mountain. I think it's very Italian to go a little over the top, but these guys really know how to impress!

We then dropped off Valentina and met her parents. Her appartment was quite spacious as the outside does not do the inside the balconies from the kitchen and living rooms provide visibility of the mountains and the town. Her mom and dad were super cute and extrememly welcoming - but whenever they tried to talk to me, Domi had to translate most of it (as usual). By mid-afternoon, we headed to Domi's house in the countryside of St. Eufemia D'Aspromonte. the complex was quite cute as all of his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents lived in the same building, but difference appartments / homes. It reminded me of the complex grandma used to own in Hong Kong at Leung Fai Toi.

We went into Domi's room to unwind and to my surprise I found my bags there in his room. Plastered all over the walls were framed documents of important achievements in the family's history. The room felt more like a study than a bedroom and impressed very much if not the very least. From one of the frames had an insription that the Rositano family name has a noble history - wow I'm being hosted by "blue-blood" as what Domi would re-iterate haha - Sweet!


By about early evening, there was an important meeting at on e of the community centres/churches in town (which explains teh gathering of important people at the fish grill the night before) as they were holding a discussion where the poster (below) roughly translates as

"The Youth of the South and Europe", a meeting/debate with Riccardo Ventre (European Parliament) and Luigi Fedele (Italian Parliament)"

So almost all the families and people last night show up today and it was another gathering. It was odd to be surrounded by so many people where Domi was the only one that could speak English, but I just stood there and listened to see if I could pick up words from their conversations.
Of course during the speech, I didni't really pick up what they were talking about and after about 30 minutes, Domi had to leave and took me along as it was Valentina's mom's birthday that night and she graciously invited me to the event as well which was very nice. We went directly back to Valentina's house by 8pm or so, picked her up (she looked liked Alicia Keys that night (which she appreciated the comment)) and drove into town to a restaurant at an outside patio. There waiting was her parents, her sister carla and her sister's boyfriend. we dined over pizza and a few dishes also prepared by her mom which again all the food was perfection - man I can still taste it now!
Some of Carla's friends joined us at night and the one guy on the right they called the "inglesino" because his English was also very good and they purposely seated him beside me as he was applying to medical school in the states.

Later after dinner, said a compleanno to her mom, and the three of us just went of to a nearby park to walk around as the two of the had some important things to discuss. At teh edge of the park, you can get some amazing views of Bagnara and just sorta slumped onto a bench in the park exhausted from the days activities.The next day Ching-Yin arrived in the city at about 1600. I remembered I just napped until about the afternoon and then we were on our way to Reggio Calabria (the capital of the region) to pick her up at the airport!
I took this pic at a gas station cause I was amazed to see asians in this region (it was a tour bus (of course)) as well as a machine that dispenses adult porn.




Driving through Reggio Calabria is what I would picture Miami to be like with the Palm trees and the views of the sea and the mountains in the distant.The airport was just a little bit migger than Lamezia's. the picture abov e is basically about 50% of the airport already. Of course CY's place was late (very Italian) as she did a transfer through Milano. but she made it!

We did a wuick little stop in Schilla to help his parent's pic up some other boxes and then we were on our way back to St.Eufemia D'Aspromonte (Domenico drilled the name of his town into us - but now at least we know it very well!).Thank you Schilla ! Definitely one of my FAVOURITE places to be and I will return here again one day. coming up are posts of our adventures with CY.

a year with friends from the boat.

Travel Entry 30... the last is first.

A posting from my travel journal I made a month ago...

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Waking to the wind and rain tapping against the window pane behind me, I open my eyes and just lie there staring at the white ceiling above me. Staring blankly, and thinking… today, is my LAST day of four weeks (six including Spain, Portugal and Scotland) of my European adventures. The feelings are very surreal right now as the last few weeks blew by like a whirlwind - however at the same time, I was also looking forward heading to my “home” in Amsterdam and no longer have to worry about where I will be sleeping, what to eat, or what sites to see next. Nevertheless, I will miss the visits, travels and meeting with some of my oldest and newest friends in Europe.

It seems like it was just yesterday I was with Erica browsin’ the latest street fashion at Pull and Bear and basking in two hours of fado over dinner in Lisbon;
sunbathing at the beach in Barcelona with Anne listening to the monotonous drink and massage vendors blend into the spanish seaside or mingling with locals and tourists at Taller de Tapas;
trotting down Mary King’s Close and throwing back Scottish malt with my honeys Ching-Yin, Maria, Hetal and Depal;
trashin it out at a trailor park in Pisa with two Taiwanese backpackers;
cutting through Florentine beefsteak with some old Italian friends Domenico and Valentina;
Chillin’ at Clara’s hostel with Derrick, Shiu, Shawnee, Derek, Bryan and Phyllis;
practicing my Italian with Marcena and Lucia in Poppi while learning Tuscan kitchen secrets with Grazia and Mario;
havin a pint while watchin an English/South African football match in an Irish pub full of Australians in Italy and lounging at the much famed Monte Carla with Grant, Drew, Trent, Adam and Haley;
overnighting it on a train from Firenze to Nice with Ruth, Stephanie (2 Newfies),Dan and Braden (2 fellow Calgarians);
biking through the vineyards of Provence tasting some of the world’s finest wines with my bud Lou and his girl France,
immersed in conversations with the Jacquel-Blancs and climbing the rocks at Rochefort with him and his bro Antoine;
running around Genova and trekking through the seaside hills of Cinque Terre with Jennifer;
helping my best German-Italian friend Markus with his never-ending quest for girls in Rome;
chillin’ it holy stylz with Mase and Yung in Vatican city
or taking a trip to heaven at Gioliti with Adriana and
having a beer or a glass of wine with Canio, Caroline and Beppe;
winding through old city streets during nippy Prague evenings for some Thai food with Alex and Blanka and
finally, bummin’ it out with Nicky during frosty mornings over Austrian soft-boiled eggs and standing at the Viennese opera house to take in the sweet symphony of Beethoven’s Fidelio - this is so until the curtain closes on a drawn out round of applause; an applause to a life changing experience…
thank you friends.