Pretending to be young in the desert

Prologue; This trip took place from Friday, October 20 to Wednesday, October 25, 2017 and I've been spurred to resume writing this piece after I learned that the 2018 edition of this festival was cancelled. Then Odesza's "late night" made a return to the Slacker alternative countdown and my memories were refreshed.  Notably, this was a quick trip "sans enfant" - let the fun begin!

For the second year in a row, we took a trip to the desert [American Southwest] to attend a music festival. And for the second consecutive year, it was a great time. And I wish you were there.

Introduction; Someone asked how I learned about this new music festival in Phoenix. It took me a while to remember, but it was back in April of this year [2017] when I was reading articles about the Coachella music festival (that we'd been to previously).  As one does on the internet, I clicked another link at the bottom of the article and went somewhere unplanned and read about the lineup for this new festival. [Here's the article - http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7760631/lost-lake-festival-lineup-the-killers-chance-the-rapper-major-lazer-phoenix ]  Subsequently a casual email to Julie saying "hey, this festival takes place on your birthday" turned into an actual ticket purchase shortly thereafter; surprising the heck out of me.  However, it doesn't take much to convince either of us to go to Arizona; Julie has family there and I spent a lot of time there many moons ago. 

Even though this festival is brand new, it is being organised by the people who do Bonaroo in Tennessee, and their experience showed. There was very little to take issue with, and the venue was great although the lake sort of got in the way. Yes, there is actually a lake at the park just outside downtown Phoenix, and yes, we heard a kid on day 3 exclaim "Whoa, there's actually a lake here!" as we walked past it on our way out. (You walk past it on the way in as well, in daylight no less.)  While we're discussing this lake, the festival installed these giant metal lotus flowers out in the water. They looked interesting by day, neat when lit up at night, and then amazing when they shot flames 20ft up in the air. Each hour after sunset, they'd do a pyro show with accompanying music; Metallica's "give me fuel, give me fire" was pretty good.  

Other things we liked about the festival?  

•It was licenced throughout. 

•There was a substantial craft beer bar, from which you could grab a cold one and then go wander. (see above) 

•Handmade village of [mostly] local artisans. In keeping with the "lost" theme, they branded it "Found".

•Loads of corporate sponsors giving away free stuff (beer kozies, pedialyte, blinking bracelets, ever-present Red Bull, and sunglasses).

•There were lockers on site, that allowed you to leave stuff overnight.

•The tequila tasting bar, where we made a new well-connected friend. 

Chapter 1; Allow me to set a scene. First things first, load up this song while you're reading this. Hopefully you have headphones.  ☻ Odesza (iPlayYouListen - live)

Imagine that you are walking across a large grassy field. There's a giant Miller Lite neon sign to the left that makes you wonder why they decided to put a typical sports bar at a music festival. On your immediate right is an over-sized croquet game trimmed in neon lighting. The reddish-brown mountains of the desert are visible in the distance over the trees and buildings of the city.  After the heat of the day, the temperature right now is perfect, a pleasantly warm 26°C that makes this craft beer taste real good.  As we near the opposite end of the big field, we come up a small rise and below us there it is - a music festival, main stage. 

Imagine a crowd of 15,000+ people in front of a stage that's shining with spotlights and emanating lasers under a clear desert sky that has the final twinges of daylight.  The music blasting from the stage is loud, so loud you can feel it. Someone wearing a shimmering silver jumpsuit with an LED-lit hula hoop just runs past you, bounding down into the dark mass of people.  Across the field a giant Mad Max-style fire engine belches a cloud of fire up into the air.  You pull down the bandana that's keeping the dust out of your lungs to take a sip of beer and take it all in.  That's the moment. 

There were a number of these for me during this weekend.

Chapter 2; I'll be frank; I don't get Chance the Rapper. He's a nice guy and is the headliner tonight but his music is lost on me. In a similar genre, Ludacris was energetic in front of an enthusiastic crowd, getting them all riled up.  I was content to see the old band the Pixies, but my eardrums sure weren't.  Unfortunately we missed Calexico and Johnnyswim.  The girls of HAIM were pleasant, and if you haven't seen them perform, pay attention to the girl on the bass - her facial expressions are worth it. 

Wandering around the festival site we came upon the Nectar of the Gods booth where a number of knowledgeable bartenders happily share their knowledge of tequila with anyone willing to listen, and pony up a couple bucks.  Our man Brian turns out to be a wealth of knowledge, not just of tequila but many things related to Phoenix.  Where's the best BBQ in town? Head to Little Miss BBQ on a street littered with tire shops near ASU in Tempe.  Want a funky sushi place with a really good selection of tequila?  SumoMaya in Scottsdale. I wish I could remember more of what this dude told us about the finer points of tequila, but my memory's poor. 

Today was day 1 and this festival has made an excellent first impression. The schedule for day 2 (Saturday) is jampacked. 

Chapter 3: Seizing the opportunity we made our way to Little MIss BBQ today to fuel up for the festival.  Brian's advice was spot-on as the line-up reached around the building to get in to this place, and sure enough, some of the tastier bits were sold out by the time we got up to the order desk. Was it the best BBQ ever? I don't know, but it was dang tasty that's for sure. And the setting of being sprayed by the misters under a shed roof while sitting at big communal picnic tables was pretty neat.  Choc full of meat we get ourselves to the festival; a little bit earlier today than yesterday.

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm pumped to stand in the blazing sun to get a good spot for the Kongos show.  Turns out I didn't need to be so keen as there wasn't too much of a crowd for them. But in a space for 10,000, anything less does feel like a small crowd.  Tritonal's electronic sounds occasionally drifted over from the furthest stage but it didn't matter, these guys were good with their South African-tinged rock. 

The main stage today was lit; first with the Roots getting virtually every head bobbing and booty shaking. These guys are fun[ky] - and there's a tuba!  [Sorry, a sousaphone.]

My favourite musical find at the festival? Aside from perhaps Johnnyswim, it's DreamCar.  Their song "Kill for candy" was frequently on repeat in late 2017.  We spent their set playing ping pong on these translucent glowing tables in the games area directly behind their stage. Better sound quality here rather than jostling for a spot somewhere in front of the stage. 

Best not forget to mention that the Killers closed out the show tonight.  Hit after hit streamed forth like the confetti cannons blasting over the crowd. So good.

Chapter 4:  We're getting much better at navigating our way to the festival site and so finally we're here in the early afternoon, when it's really hot, the food lines aren't long and you can randomly stop by the CoolHaus ice cream truck for a massive customized ice cream sandwich.  So good.

Canadian award-winning group A Tribe Called Red was off the hook, working up a sweat with their dancers twirling across the front of the stage.  The festival actually had a fairly prominent focus on Native American talent. There was a small stage that had readings and various indigenous performers on it during the day. Having more time here today we were able to wander around even more and find hidden parts of the site that didn't know were there.  You really could just come here and hang out all day with no shortage of entertainment, and shopping - Julie went shopping today. 

While you're cooking supper tonight, throw on Big Gigantic and play it a little loud.  On the other hand, we ate our supper of tacos while listening to Columbian singer Juanes.  A couple of folks at the table were surprised that we came all the way from Canada for this festival.  And even more surprised that I had intentionally come to this stage to listen to Juanes sing in Spanish. 

The final, massive, overblown wollop on the kickdrum of the festival came courtesy of Major Lazer; holy crap. Insanely loud and packed to the fences. It's electronic music, and whatever your take on the genre is, it packs a crowd, and you really do need to appreciate the sonic engineering of it all. 

When that show ended and the flood of people made their way to the main stage, we sidestepped it and found a lounge chair in a quiet spot.  The softer yet still orchestrally intense sounds of Odezsa closed out the festival.  We did go to watch some of it (see opening paragraph) but returned to the couches to comfortably soak it in.  I was surprised that at the end of it, nobody from the festival came out to say bye, thanks, see you next time.  Maybe I'm just used to the folkie vibe at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.  

Chapter 5: The desert is calling and I must go.  I drag Julie out to the middle of nowhere just to have a date shake in Dateland and visit some farms.  Interesting circle of events in that this is where I was working when we first met, so she finally got to see it firsthand.  

If this link works, you can listen to my LostLake station on Slacker Radio → http://slacker.com/r/ZcFn8 

Pictures are at https://kalicinski.smugmug.com/Travel/LostLake2017/ 

Lost Lake's recap video: https://youtu.be/hIlE17oB3cw 

.end.

Just gotta make it to Sunday

2015 is rapidly winding down and we're a little bit stressed as it does. I've been at work a lot, attempting to catch up after 9 months off on parental leave ‎(leaving the bulk of work for "future Andrew" to deal with. Well, now future Andrew has arrived). Add in Julie's shift work and the holiday season and our trip to Florida was a distant light at the end of it all. It's too bad that Christmas always gets rushed because it is such a good time seeing all of our extended family.  But it's rushed because we do try to see everyone.  

My quick trip to Dauphin was blemished by a flat tire on Christmas morning. My FOURTH flat tire of the year! Come on... But no matter, at least it was at the farm and my brother David made quick work of getting our spare in place. 

Just gotta make it to Sunday.  

‎Recollecting on Christmas day, it was a long one. Mostly due to our packing frenzy until after 1am. In the morning we're a cup short of a cup of coffee to get us going on the drive to GFK. Due to the tire mishap we squeeze 5 of us into our little car for the trip across the border. 

Just gotta make it to Sunday.  

Sebastian is a trooper and like me doesn't want to sleep if there's stuff going on. So he doesn't nap during the drive, and then doesn't nap during the flight to Orlando.  That's OK since we have the 2.5 hour drive from Orlando to Bradenton. So we get all loaded up in the car after Seb does a few sprints down the lobby of the car rental place. 

‎Excitedly we get on the turnpike and head for the coast, soon crossing over Lake Jesup where I happily declare that we'll make it to Sunday!   We are stoked for this trip!  After spending so much time down there this year we've been looking forward to getting back to the beach. 

We missed supper so we pull off into Oviedo to find some drive-thru. As we're sitting at a light, a sheriff pulls up beside us and asks if we're driving a rental, and could we figure out how to turn our lights on. Ok, thanks! (they are on)

In the drive-thru I notice that there's no reflection on the car behind me. I get out and check and we have no taillights whatsoever: no signals, no backup light, just the single brake light in the rear window. That's cool since we're driving at night on a freeway. Ugh. 

Just gotta make it to Sunday.  
‎Back to the rental place, where another sheriff asks us to turn on our lights. It is strange that none of them realised that my brake lights weren't working.  

Fortunately Seb gives little protest to being moved to a new car and we're soon back on the road with verified working taillights.  

‎A couple hours later (1am) and we're driving over the Manatee River with Bradenton before us. Julie comments how it's a nice small city without feeling like a city.  We should go to that tiki bar over there this time. 

Here it is, Sunday afternoon. We've had brunch at our favourite breakfast spot (the Sage Biscuit - http://sagebiscuitcafebradenton.com/‎) and are now having a beer in the lanai overlooking the pond while Seb naps. 

Wonderful.

Phew, we made it to Sunday.

< image, 

Tarpon Pointe Grill & Tiki Bar‎

 ‎http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6953196129_1b3924cecc_z.jpg >

One Night by the Manatee

It was a cool night tonight. Cool by Floridian standards, so perhaps we could say it was akin to an autumn evening. We really want it to be warmer as we’ve had to force ourselves to admit that we have to soon start our journey home. Strangely, walking around, it does feel like autumn: there are leaves on the ground, bare branches above, and the skies have been gloomy and cool all week.

Nonetheless, it’s Friday night! And the baby’s in bed so let’s go!

Bradenton was hosting a concert down by the water tonight [free!] featuring a local band, Wild Root. We like the riverwalk along the Manatee River near downtown – they’ve done a good job developing it with artwork, a skatepark and a small amphitheatre.

It was a small crowd but the band did well, playing cover tunes of Joe Cocker to the Chilli Peppers, plus their original songs that were good too. The frontman, Paul Fournier, is a local high school teacher who reminds me a lot of Winnipeg music man Tim Hoover.

After the show we went to a nearby restaurant Pier 22 by the marina. A martini and house-made chocolate banana bread pudding for me, a glass of pinot noir and some sushi for Julie. Gazing out from the heated patio over the river we discuss our upcoming week and what should be on our to-do list as our time in Florida winds down. Julie hatches a crazy idea – what if we fly home via Phoenix like Ryan and Nuala did? Then we could come back to Florida to retrieve the car when the weather is better for a drive home? Constant snowstorms across the mid-west are making us nervous.

We finish up as the Lightning beat the Blackhawks on TV (we chuckle it’s best that our fellow parent Sonny and Rocky didn’t go to the game tonight - they’re Chicago fans - although they would have fit in well with the crowd as it was mostly red sweaters). Julie didn’t think her sushi was good, so she wants to check and see whether the chef is Japanese or Mexican (a joke from 2 years ago in San Diego). Unconfirmed… but the rest of the restaurant looks really nice.

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best bathroom story of the week: it’s a small restroom that already has two fellows in it when I walk in. A short, stubby middle-aged guy with a cowboy hat and a beard chatting with a Mexican kid. Cowboy dude sounds a bit intoxicated, “tatered” as they say down here. Says he’s from Calgary. As he walks out, I call out “go Flames!”. He spins around into the door and asks “who said that?” while eyeing the Mexican. With a bit of a smirk he turns to me and asks how I know the Flames. I say I’m from Winnipeg and suddenly I’m his best friend as we squeeze out of the restroom. Do I know Kid Rock? Him and his wife are going on a cruise with him tomorrow, so much fun! It’s the 6th one they’ve been on – that’s all of them, ya know. They’re going with their “loaded” friends who they met down here on Longboat Key who are also from Calgary. His wife comes over and distracts him so that I can meet my wife who’s standing slightly impatiently at the door.

As we see them leave, he climbs into an Infinity SUV, that has Alberta plates. Story checks out!

the Cortez Fishing Festival

This past weekend (Feb.14-15, 2015) saw a small village area turn its main road into a street festival. The 33rd annual Cortez Fishing Festival aims to educate the public about the local fishing industry and the importance of preserving the wetlands. The $3 admission goes towards projects to preserve fishing habitat.

With our friend Shawna in town for just 45 hours, we figured this was a good spot to spend the day, and we weren’t disappointed. The splendid sunny day made the rum punch coconuts an immediate desire. We were happy to be randomly picked up by a guy with an extended golf cart to give us a ride to the festival from where we parked. (this was already after we had walked along the beach and had big bowls of homemade ice cream as our lunch… so justified?)

We browsed the arts and crafts section while listening to a country band. Andrew entered to win a hand-made wooden row boat [if you win, you just rent a uHaul and tow it home!] and considered a kitschy fish cleaning station for a buddy. We thought that this was actually it for the festival, until we got around the bend and there it was – the food!!

So many choices! What to try??  One guy gave a bad review of some coconut shrimp, which made us hesitate, but fortuitously made us check out each vendor to see whose shrimps looked the best. Shawna and I believe that our decision was good: as the shrimps and the large crab cake were both delicious. Who knew that pina colada sauce would be good on shrimp?

Next up was the local favourite, smoked mullet. Not to be left out, Sebastian had a taste and he even cried for more!

A refill of the coconut to wash that down before Shawna suggested the bakery. I won’t pass up a chance at baked goods, so with someone to share it with (Julie’s often left out due to her food intolerances) we ogled the cream-filled pastries. My strawberry puff was the size of my hand, filled with Bavarian cream, drizzled with chocolate and then topped with strawberries. Shawna’s cherry strudel was just as large (but thinner) and balanced nicely between gooey cherry filling and the light pastry.  Julie satisfied her cravings with a bag of kettle corn.  And with that, we were out of tokens.

There’s a fish processing facility here and today they had the place open to the public. We got to wander through, see some fish on ice (red and black grouper, snapper, mullet) and watch the local guy feed the pelicans who were hanging out on the dock.

As the sun lowered in the sky and our sugar levels max’d out, we made a beeline for the gulf to watch the sunset. A great finale to a great day!

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Additional photos of our day are found on Smugmug –> http://kalicinski.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=47548551&AlbumKey=6FCfGn

More info on the Cortez Fish Festival located in Cortez Village, just west of Bradenton, Florida http://www.cortez-fish.org/fishing-festival.html

An article about the festival featuring a quote from a Manitoban! http://www.bradenton.com/2015/02/15/5637742_33rd-annual-cortez-fishing-festival.html plus some nice photos

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We’re not burling, we’re sailing!

It has been a number of years in the making but today it finally happened – we got to have a sailing lesson!

It all started last weekend when Julie booked us for a kayak tour around the south end of Lido Key. Our guide Mark introduced himself as a lifetime Sarasotan who has spent much of his life on the water, even going to school as a boy from the boat his family lived on in the marina. As we chatted he said that he teaches sailing and his wife also windsurfs. What a coincidence! We are also looking to learn how to sail and would like to windsurf as well. Once back on shore we made plans to meet on Monday for a lesson. But fate would push back against us once more and our session was cancelled as heavy rains poured into the area all day on Monday. But today looked fine and sunny with just enough breeze.

Not surprising that we discovered Mark’s house backs onto water, a bayou [riverway] in this case. He had the boats ready to go so we hopped right on board and made our way to the bay while he briefed us on some sailing terms and the basics of working with the wind – remember the “no go zone” that covers straight into the wind and 60 degrees on either side. He rigged up a little pointer device on the front end of the boom to indicate the wind direction. We found some clear water amongst the moored boats in the Bay to anchor the  motor boat that was acting as our home base. 

I went first since I was the one who was so keen to get sailing. Sit with your bum on the side, grab hold of the tiller (the handle that operates the rudder for steering) with one hand, and the sheet (the rope that operates the sail’s angle) with the other hand. With a push from the moored motor boat we were off!

Just like our first windsurfing lesson, the moment that the wind grabs hold and you thrust forward feels exhilarating!  A couple reminders to “fall off the wind” (turn to be pointing more where the wind is blowing) were needed as I tended point upwards a bit too much. And then I needed to turn around. This took a bit of practice, and I’m sure will continue to require practice if we get to go again. First turn was to “come about” (aka tacking) or turn up into the wind. It’s a nifty manoeuvre wherein you slam the rudder all the way one way, wait for the boat to point straight up wind and then shift your body to the other side of the boat, switch hands for the rope and tiller all while minding that the sail boom doesn’t smack your head. Four attempts and my confidence was up. After 8 attempts we did the jibe. This is the action that you see people getting knocked out or off boats on TV when the boom comes whipping around. Don’t worry – we watched our heads and safely navigated the turn. To conclude my lesson, I was quite happy when Mark stated that I pulled the sail boat up the motor boat “remarkably well”. Julie also did well and I’ll say that I think she was going faster than I was.

Sitting on the bow of the boat watching Julie sail past to and fro, was so good. The warm sun, a pleasant breeze [damn glad I bought this sweater yesterday!] and the Sarasota skyline made us thankful we can do this kind of stuff – with grandparents at hand to babysit!

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http://www.virtualvoyages.net/sailingskills/lesson01.shtml 

where we were sailing

A nice sunny morning? That's a paddlin’.

Kayaking appears to be quite popular here, which isn’t surprising given the vast, extensive network of intercoastal waterways, bayous and rivers. Plus, it’s generally warm out! Bonus.

This Saturday morning we took our turn to venture out, booking ourselves a tandem kayak with iKayak Sarasota. Julie determined that they offered the best value and timing of the operators we found online. Unfortunately, when we got there, we learned it was low tide and our guide was a bit nervous about us being able to get into, and out of, the mangrove tunnels. But on the bright side, we were the only guests for the morning so we could go do whatever we wanted.

Our guide, Mark, is a lifetime Sarasotan who has spent much of his life on the water, but “couldn’t spell kayak guide 5 years ago!”. No matter, we’re not white water kayaking here, but lazily paddling out in the calm waters in between Lido and Bird Keys and Mark definitely knew the finer details of the area. He pointed out the AC/DC frontman’s impressive place on the water. And then pointed to an even more impressive house and invited us to a garden party that afternoon – with a wink. And an apartment building for seniors where they used to have to will their estate to the church that operated the apartment (no longer a requirement due to fussy children).

There are obviously plenty of sea birds in this area: cormorants, anhingas, brown pelicans, spoonbills, etc., but we can easily pick out our snowbird brethren (ducks and big white pelicans) because they aren’t nearly as comfortable around humans. Take this anhinga for example. He swam right up to us, and even underneath us!

But the White Pelican wouldn’t let us get closer than 100 meters.

Mark scooped up a sea urchin, and warned us of stepping on them. He said it’ll sting, and you can try and try to dig the spike out of your foot, but you’ll have to give up and accept the fact that you’ll now have a piece of the ocean inside your foot (appearing as a small black dot). Upside down jellyfish were also neat to see, and likely something I would not have spotted on the sandy bottom prior to Mark showing it to us.

Eventually we worked our way to the mangroves and our guide picked out a small break in the trees for us to paddle into. They weren’t kidding when they wrote mangrove tunnels on the tour description – you really feel like you’re in a tunnel!  It’s so quiet in here, save for the gentle clucking of oysters shutting their shells.

In order to exit the mangroves we did have to get out of our kayaks and push them – with a newfound awareness of where I was placing my feet in the water!

The tour was about 2.5 hours, and a great way to explore the area. We’re now wishing we had our kayak here with us. But we made a friend with Mark and hope to go sailing with him.

Photos on smugmug: http://kalicinski.smugmug.com/Florida-2015/Sailing-Sarasota 

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where were we?

The Florida Quays

Julie’s Christmas present this year was to view the sunset from Key West; either from her room at a hotel (I was going to pick this one – www.pierhouse.com) or from a boat whilst on a sunset cruise. We started planning the trip and picked a weekend before we started hosting visitors. Unwittingly we picked a long weekend. What does the travel book say about driving to Key West? “We strongly recommend to not drive to the islands on a Friday afternoon, especially if it’s a long weekend.”  Guess what time we hit Miami for the final segment to Key Largo? d’oh!

We also got a quick lesson in hotel prices and availability for Key West: holy shiza are they expensive! Finding something under US$300 was a challenge. So we spent the hotel points that we got for signing up for a hotel credit card on a room at the Fairfield Inn & Suites.

We staggered the trip to Key West, spending 2 nights on other islands on our way there: first Islamorada, then Marathon and finally Key West. Our stay in Key west lasted about 30 hours. And if you go to Key West, there is a 3-hour time frame wherein most of the action takes place. We missed it (we were on the boat). So we’ll have to go back to see the sunset party at Mallory Square. We originally thought we’d make the entire trip back in one day, but we ended up staying a night just off the islands in Florida City before driving back to Bradenton through the Everglades.

The reason for picking this weekend to go the Keys was because of all of the events that were going on.

• Uncorked Food & Wine Festival, www.floridakeysuncorked.com
• Key West Seafood Festival, www.fkcfa.org/seafood-festival1
• Ft.Lauderdale to Key West race, www.keywestrace.org
• Quantum Key West Race Week, www.premiere-racing.com

A story is one thing, but pictures make the difference – see them all here: http://kalicinski.smugmug.com/Florida-2015/FloridaKeys/

Jammin’ in the Cortez Kitchen

The old man’s skin was so wrinkled and weather worn that I could not quite tell if he was black, white or Cuban. But his raspy voice definitely spoke of his years and the slightly French-accent-tinged long drawl spoke of his origins in the bayou. He played some old blues on the guitar that had most of the varnish worn off. Beside him sat an even older gentleman who was attempting to get his violin into tune. The American War Veteran to his right seemed to readily take charge and determine whose turn it was to play a tune.  Us, with our baby and pram, brought the average age of the small group sitting in the circle of wooden chairs down to perhaps the low 50’s.

The Florida Maritime Museum hosts a “Music on the Porch” on the second Saturday of the month. The slightly cooler weather today moved the music inside the old schoolhouse, and the old building with its wooden floors and country music reminded me of similar venues around Valley River, MB (i.e.. Zoria Hall). But we are in Cortez Village, the last bit of the mainland from Bradenton before hopping the bridge onto the island for Bradenton Beach. A small enclave of “old” Florida where the streets are small and narrow running between the clapboard bungalows under the large trees. The village is centered around the Cortez Kitchen, a section of water nicknamed such due to the fact that that you could always go there and get something to eat. Now there’s also a restaurant beside the water of the same name, but it feels like it’s as old as the village, especially at night when a band starts to play and the air gets a bit smoky inside. We sat on the patio by the boats and watched a Great Blue Heron stroll into the fish processing plant next door and scavenge for scraps. The seared tuna was tasty, and the Land Shark lager went down nicely. I snuck a morsel of wasabi to Seb’s mouth and got a fantastic scrunched face as result – but no cry!

The sun started to go down, a fishing boat came in to dock, and the setting was very peaceful. We took a walk on the boardwalk around the water to take in the view. Wonderful. This is the moment. And the air from the restaurant wafted out the succulent smells of garlic butter. Is anyone else hungry?

The Great Drive South

Whatever Google or your GPS says, do not follow its advice. Seasoned veterans who drive south each winter know better – just go straight south as far and as fast as you can! Bad weather often hits Minneapolis and other areas nearer the Great Lakes.

For me, the drive from Winnipeg to Tampa Bay started out ominously: after checking and double-checking the packing list, I left, but forgot my wallet!  Then, once outside the Perimeter of the City, the weather looked like it was stacking up against me. A warm spell (above 0°C!) brought rain the day before, which turned to freezing rain overnight and resulted in fog in the morning. This meant I was passing people on the highway while doing 80kph. Embarking on a 30+ hour journey to discover that the first few hours will be very slow wasn’t heartening. However, the US border brought clearer skies (somewhat) and better yet, clearer roads. In fact, during the entire trip, I only had the sun in my eyes once. An incredible continent-long blanket of cloud seemed to track me.

I made it to Omaha the first day, and by midday on the second day I was already bored of the Interstate. Occasionally something would perk me up, like passing a trucker from a company in Morden, MB. But otherwise, the podcasts and audiobooks were doing their trick to keep me awake.

Just south of Kansas City I decided to veer off course: take the hypotenuse route to Memphis instead of the longer route on the Interstate – the GPS said that both routes would get me there at about the same time. So I took a random exit (at Archie) and headed east. And I’m glad I did! The road I happened upon was curvy and hilly and quite a lot of fun. At some points the hills were so steep that you couldn’t see where the road was going as it dove down away from you. And the scenery here was better too: small farms and classic American Midwest houses.

This route sent me through the Ozarks (hwy 63), a place I’ve never been to. It’s a pretty area, full of big oak trees covering rolling hills with an occasional town in the mix. And I’m pretty sure one of the small villages smelled like garlic sausage.

The hills end abruptly and open up into the flat Mississippi delta; coincidentally a flock of Canada Geese flew overhead and welcomed me to familiar terrain, complete with farm equipment beside the roadway from the rice harvest.

As I exited Memphis and got further south, I noticed that other drivers were now treating the highway as an extension of city roads; wherein slower traffic wouldn’t always “keep to the right”. Down in the Florida panhandle, while driving through heavy rain, I found I could actually go faster in the “slow” lane! Not nearly as organized as I found in California, where each lane seems to have a 5-10mph speed differential. So the final push to get to Bradenton was mildly frantic. But alas, it was worth it, as the Gulf came into view while crossing the bridge over the Manatee River. And then of course, my family was there.

Punched in hard one day, 7hrs non-stop!

It's winter get-away time!

I don't mind winter, I may even like it. But this year's polar vortex-induced freezer has tested everyone's limits.
It didn't take long for the first cold snap (in December) to send Julie to the flight search engines looking for possibilities.
As luck would have it, her sister got word that her company was holding meetings in Grand Cayman - perhaps we should tag along?

We were there briefly a number of years ago during a cruise stop-over. The clear blue waters of the Caribbean are a fond memory. So I'm pretty stoked to do some scuba diving again.

Should be good!

-Andrew.K
(on my MTS Blackberry)

A sip, just a taste; of Bordeaux

Two envelopes were waiting on our bedside table last night when we returned home after having dinner with Julie’s friend Antonio.  They were our train tickets to Toulouse, and the departure time was maybe a little sooner than we had hoped for, which made for a rushed morning.

We scurried down to the lobby: Julie to check out, while I asked the concierge for the best subway route to the train station. “Do we have enough time?” I asked. The concierge nodded “just enough”. I went over to the counter to see if Julie was finished and told her the news. I stood by our bags for a few moments, anxiously glancing at my watch, estimating the time for us to cross the street, get down in the metro and then onto the subway.  I glanced over to Julie who now looked somewhat panicked and said “taxi?”. I looked the other way to the concierge who nodded in agreement and started for the door to hail us a taxi. [Traveler tip: taxis in France start their meters at the time of being called to come get you, not when you physically get in the vehicle like North America.]  Mid-morning Paris traffic wasn’t bad, and the voyage above-ground provided us some new sights. Our energetic driver nosed his way through what traffic there was and the €10 fare was easily worth it to get us to Montparnasse station on time.

I have longed to travel via high-speed train, and today I would experience the Tay Jay Vay, or Train de Grande Vitesse [TGV].

Surprisingly there is no direct high-speed train from Paris to Toulouse, so we had a stopover in Bordeaux, which is good because it was an early victim to trip planning culling.

Bordeaux is…Bordeaux is lovely. It is like it stepped out of a Bombardier train commercial as sleek-looking trams glide past stately old buildings with just the sound of a dinging bell.  Check out their tourism website - http://www.bordeaux-tourisme.com/index_uk.html or Lonely Planet’s quick intro - http://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/southwestern-france/bordeaux.  We stashed our luggage in storage lockers at the train station (the only time we found this service during our trip) and hopped onto one of these new trams to the center of town.  And it was here, at Place de la Bourse with its large fountain with rose-tinted water (I’m guessing to pay tribute to wine) where we descended from the tram and were taken aback at the sight before us, even on this dreary, rainy day.

Julie had a destination for us, a restaurant for lunch. And in France, lunch can last a long time, but then it is over and you missed it, so we had to hustle. We walked along the riverfront Richelieu Quay then through the Porte Cailhau that was built at the end of the 15th century, and where Cafe Chez Fred has a prime spot with a grand view of the old gate.

We found our targeted restaurant down one of many car-free narrow streets. Le Cheverus cafe was lively during the lunch hour and our young waiter’s broken English was better than my broken French so we managed to get Julie a dairy-free meal. And what a meal it was! The tajine de poulet au citron was a satisfying meal served in a clay dish with a tall, conical lid that the waiter dramatically removed upon delivery.

After lunch a drizzle accompanied us as we strolled south end to north through the old city. At the end we were surprised to see a midway [we shouldn’t have been – it’s a school holiday this week]. The Ferris wheel lured Julie in and we took a ride. It was a great way to see over the city without climbing the stairs in the cathedral’s bell tower!

After that bit of excitement, we had time for a glass of wine at the very nice sampling shop Maison du Vin. I asked to try a “fort” wine, and the 2010 Margaux did not disappoint at all; providing all of the flavours and textures of what one imagines a good wine should embody.  Too bad I had to swig the last half as we had to catch the tram back to the train station.

Je t'aime Paris, mais je suis fatigue

It appears as though I either grossly underestimated the effects of jet lag, or was vastly over ambitious in what I thought we could see in a mere 48 hours in Paris. And so it is, that here at 9pm I lay in a luxurious bed willing myself to get up and go out into the streets to experience the City of Lights, but I do not, surrendering to the comfort and the fact my legs will not go.
But it was a good day today - Julie's birthday - that I'm sure to use as a bargaining chip at some point in the future: "remember that year that we spent your birthday in Paris?
Julie's pick for lunch was "le Café Marly", ideally located on a terrace overlooking Pei's pyramid at Le Louvre.  The clouds broke up, allowing the sun to pierce through and brighten the square bustling with tourists. I cannot imagine this place at high season.  It's a given that the prices at a café overlooking the Louvre will be extravagant, but my word - that lunch was worth it! First the bread with butter. And some small jars of jams. C'est ordinaire, non? I'm sorry Canadian and New Zealand dairy farmers, but French butter, combined with strawberry jam runs a close second only to clotted cream as the best thing on bread.  I'm pretty sure I embarrassed Julie by eating just butter and jam after finishing the bread!  The simple ham and cheese omelette was easily the best I've had; melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Later on I would learn that the secret is to not fully cook the eggs.
Watching the large entry queue from our perch, we opted to walk out of the square to the underground mall to buy our tickets to the museum that would exempt us from the line. The 15 minutes was well worth it to just walk right in.
We were somewhat pressed for time, if only by our body clocks, so regrettably we did the Louvre in less than 2 hours. Having seen 100 Masters in the small crowds of Winnipeg, I couldn't be bothered to wiggle through the masses to look at any given work of art. I also find that I am more impressed by the physical effort it takes to produce the piece, rather than the emotion that the piece physically represents. Must be the engineer in me...

Happy birthday Julie - Bonne fête!

A sprint to France

As the snow falls gently in Winnipeg, and apparently catches Gimli off-guard like that Canadian Tire commercial, we depart for France! Once again, gone at the first signs of winter :) - keeping that "summer chaser" mantra alive!

A slight delay leaving Winnipeg provided us an opportunity for some cardio in Toronto. The sprint from D28 to E73 was sweat-inducing! Tip: look for the shortcut to the right as you exit D wing.

Julie's Parisian friend has snagged us a splendid hotel right near the Louvre that I am looking forward to after sleeping in this chair. [www.saintjamesalbany.com]


Bon voyage!

J'n'A

-Andrew.K
(on my MTS Blackberry)

WTF is a “Coachella”?

Ah, let me tell you!

While it’s fairly unknown up here north of the 49th, I have been dreaming of this festival for nearly 10 years after hearing about it on an independent alternative radio station down in Phoenix when I was stationed there after university. At that time they were readily handing out the tickets to anyone who was interested in making the trip to Palm Springs. Fast forward a few years and the festival has gone from a small, money-losing venture to a giant force in the music industry that is able to convince old bands to reunite for one more gig (well 2, since the festival is now replicated over two separate weekends). I think there are about 80,000+ people on the grounds each day, according to what Wikipedia tells me. So it’s much, much larger than anything we’ve been to.

Julie & I purchased our tickets in a harried online sale last May (yes, 11 months in advance! and 2014 goes on sale May 24, 2013!) and the artist line-up was only announced in January. Since that time I’ve been tuning in nearly everyday to Slacker Radio’s “Coachella 2013” online radio station to learn the music.  But even at first glance, there were a number of bands that I definitely was keen on seeing, notably “Of Monsters and Men”, “the Airborne Toxic Event”, “Franz Ferdinand”, “Dropkick Murphys”, “Social Distortion”, “the Lumineers”, “Blur”, and “the Red Hot Chili Peppers”.  Yet just like the Winnipeg Folk Festival, you have to allow time to discover new acts, and to that I’m sure glad that mom gave me cash for my birthday that I put towards a Slacker Radio subscription!

Our tickets arrived a couple weeks before departure in the best ticket-delivery-box I’ve ever witnessed – packed with buttons, stickers, information booklet, and a DIY diorama calendar. They sure know how to build a brand.

When we were planning the trip, we opted to spend a few more days down in California, mostly to recuperate! But with the prairie winter extending its grasp, we did not anticipate the desire to escape the cold in April. We had even considered the wild possibility of flying to Lima (Peru) to visit some friends since we were halfway there, but we restrained ourselves and picked out a wine area just over the hills towards San Diego.

Our WestJet flight from Edmonton was an amusing mix of festival-goers and other “vacationers” (i.e. golfers).  We were packed as heavily as we’ve ever been for a trip since we were carrying a full collection of camping gear. That answers the “where did you stay?” question.  Camping provides the full “festival experience”, and for $85 it was far, far cheaper than any hotel option.

We rented a van for the weekend, and the power-everything Caravan ALMOST made us consider getting a minivan.  We spent a longer-than-expected 2 hours at Wal-Mart stocking up on food and supplies so that by the time we rolled up to the festival gate, the entire rear portion of the van had shopping bags strewn about along with a mix of our own luggage as Julie had changed clothes while we were in the security queue.

Coachella features 5 stages: 1 large outdoor main stage; a slightly smaller outdoor stage next to it, then 3 increasingly larger tents side by side with the airport-hangar-sized “Sahara” tent book-ending the array.  There are also a number of smaller stages scattered around. One is a [lightly] air-conditioned DJ tent. Another is a frosty air-conditioned dome sponsored by Heineken. Lastly there is the “Do Lab”, an all day dance party that is stuck right in the middle of the 2 outdoor stages and one of the tents.  Coming from the Folk Fest where they strive to ensure that no stage’s music overlaps with another, here the strategy is simply what ever stage you are closest to, that one will be loudest. Strange, but it works. Food options are plentiful (sadly I missed trying the “spicy pie” pizza), water stations are adequate and the beer gardens are spacious and well-located, and reasonably priced. ($9/16oz, but a rum & coke is an outrageous $14!)

We had great weather this weekend in the desert. Daily highs of low 30s (°C) and no sand storm like they had to deal with last week.

I was beyond excited as the event neared, and even going in with lofty expectations, I can definitely say that the festival is astounding! I sure hope to go again soon!

<> next post is more detailed, with show highlights and whatnot <>

It's more fun in the Philippines

08/DEC/2012

It has been an amazing couple of weeks (17 days) spent here in the islands. We have seen so many wonderful sights and done so many things, plus met many nice people. In no other country have we been invited for so many homestays. It is hard to pick exactly what the highlight of our trip would be: would it be the first few days spent hopping from island to island on a small sailboat eating the freshest seafood? Or perhaps our final 2 days getting an intimate, personal tour of Philippine life and eating as many mangoes as possible? Or perhaps it would be the amazing underwater sights that we had in the middle part of our journey? Tough to say!  But Julie says she doesn't see me happier as when I'm eating a sweet, ripe mango! :-) Too bad the first part of our trip was desperately lacking in the mango department but fortunately made up for in other local delights.
We start our long journey home today (currently somewhere in the air over Japan) and we're both sad to go home. We felt very welcome in Albert's family and probably could easily have spent a week there soaking up the hospitality of his and his wife's relatives. We were definitely lucky to be in the Philippines at the same time as him and his wife, even if our trips only overlapped by a few days. After travelling on our own and not knowing what everything is and how much it should cost, having Filipinos to guide us and answer our questions was so good. (We were like toddlers; what's that? What's this? Can I try?) Julie and I laughed, as we walked through a hot and crowded market yesterday, that we were cramming as much in as possible and going hard right to the end. Same same as always - we can rest when we get home ;)

Here are the highlights that spring to mind; ask us for the full story and pictures.
- the Palawan river canoeing and sailing adventure through the jungle and islands was stupendous, aside from the crowing roosters and annoying dogs in our humble accommodations - think open air bamboo hut; what it lacked in comfort was more than made up for in atmosphere. Our guide, Gener, is a great guy and fantastic cook. Each morning fisherman would arrive at our "doorstep" offering their catches and Gener would ask us what we would like to eat that day: squid, crab, tilapia fish, eel... then grill it for us on the beach.
- El Nido and the Bacuit Archipelago in northern Palawan are breathtakingly picturesque both above and below the water.  I hopefully won't forget the image of having a school of fish swim around me or the sunset from the bay when our boat broke down on the way back to town.
- meeting new friends and visiting them in a small village north of El Nido, amazingly videoke is priority one, even if generators are the main source of power.
- what they say about the traffic in Manila is true. Oh my gosh! 
- Puerto Galera is home to some great scuba diving and both of us were quite impressed with the abundance and variety of fishes, plus soft and hard coral varieties and the giant clams. We also made the best of a mild typhoon windsurfing!
- Taal volcano and the lake inside a volcano inside the lake inside the volcano makes for a lovely view.
- I saw my first field of pineapples in Tagaytay, where you can get a pineapple for twenty cents! Along with so many other tasty fruits at the big Mahogany Market. Don't forget a hot'n'fresh buko (coconut) pie!
- I became fluent in Tagalog, by which I mean I know how to say "pretty lady", "tasty", "what's your name" and "let's go!", and that got enough laughs out of the boatmen.
- going to the market with Albert was good fun, but standing (or swimming for that matter) idly will get you roped into impromptu group photos.
- the diversity of activities and amount we experienced in such a short time.

Philippines in general:
- I think that the Philippines is the most crowded place we have been. Hong Kong still claims the title as largest crowd but there are just people everywhere here, at nearly all hours of the day (even 4:30am on our way to the airport this morning). Driving here must be exhausting, as there is so much to take in and make instantaneous decisions about: cars, large trucks, motorbikes, tricycles, pedal-powered tricycles, bicycles and people, all moving at different speeds and directions. Fortunately the livestock is off the road, unlike Cambodia.
- it's not quite as cheap as I thought it was going to be. But a beer can be bought for less than a C$1 in the store, slightly over a dollar in a restaurant. And most everything else can be had for about half (or sometimes less) of what it'd be in Canada. Notably, mangoes are about C$2.50/kg.(110 pesos)
- if you're smiling, you're fine. If not they'll likely try hard to make it so that you will be smiling.
- it's hot here, and typhoons pass by faster than storms do back home.
- knock-off Oakley sunglasses can be had for ridiculously cheap here (about a dollar, I think is what I heard the tout say?) - too bad I bought mine in Hong Kong. - the pink/purple eggs for sale are died that way to indicate that they've been boiled in a solution of salt and termite spit. The partially developed ducklings in eggs are less obvious to spot but are worth seeking out for a truly local food experience - ask to see the video of me eating Bulot!
- as mentioned before, they love the karaoke here. At one store in the mall we couldn't figure out where the music was coming from until we walked further in and discovered a staff member singing into a microphone while another flipped through the songbook.
- contrary to other SE Asian countries we've been to, tourism in the Philippines is mostly done by Filipinos.
- also contrary to other places, the internet is not as plentiful or nearly as fast, as say, Vietnam especially.

Bright lights, big city. Times square, HK

11/19/2012 11:50pm
After the long hike on Lamma, Julie definitely wanted a little pampering and had her eye open for a foot massage. They're quite abundant in Hong Kong so it didn't take too long to find one. But they all walk a fine line of your personal comfort level with "sketchiness", as they're frequently located above street level, up a dingy set of stairs and down a hallway. The one we picked walked this line indeed, especially since the lady at the top spoke little English. No matter; all sorted we sat down, WiFi password in hand, to have our feet taken care of.

Times Square in New York is a large gathering place, like, you know, a square. Times Square in Hong Kong is also a gathering place, but it's a mall. Aside from the small plaza in front of the entrance, I think about the only other thing it shares with the more famous version is the large, brightly lit billboards that surround the place. But still, it's pretty neat. Tonight LEGO took over and created a small Lego-Land Christmas scene that was made to be a small village, complete with bakery, restaurant and houses. The bakery's display case was quite impressive with its Lego cakes and pastries. So many people were milling around taking so many pictures of every little Lego figurine; I wonder what happens to all of these photos? Also, seems the new overly-large-to-be-a-phone Samsung Galaxy Note is the phone-du-jour here. I took a lot of people's pictures with theirs.
We had some dim sum in the mall at Crystal Jade whose "xiao long bao" was quite good. We wandered around the streets amongst the shops for a while before things started to shut down around 11. We had been to this area (Causeway Bay) way back in 2008 and it has changed: the bamboo-supported local ads are gone, replaced with new corporate advertisements. It's definitely not the same but there are many other places in HK to find those.
We took the tram (yup, old style electric double-decker tram) home and I got one of the best time lapse videos I've ever done, aside from the one of our drive through New Zealand's Southern Alps. Dunno how to share it...

One night in Puerto

Today was meant to be a down day - recuperating from the sunburn and restless sleeps of the past few days. In that we succeeded. Except we didn't get the laundry done.
We just got back from a bar just down the road from our hotel - so close that the walk home home is barely a memory.  Katabom (pronounced kata-BOOM) is a quaint little spot with live music who will be celebrating their third year anniversary in a couple days. We happened to be walking by the entrance when another couple were walking in. The man said that the live music here is very good and the owner is the best singer in Puerto. A moment's debate by us (I had hoped to go to the Baywalk to see the action) and we went in.
The place was dimly lit, mostly by candlelight and a man was singing cover songs with a guitar. The walls were covered with empty bottles glued together to form a three-dimensional wall paper. We sat down on the heavy metal chairs, trying not to make too much noise as they dragged, screeching along the floor.
The San Miguel beers are still produced in "stubby' format, and here they were served so cold that they were misting in the evening heat (it's still 27°C at 10pm).  I wrote notes in our travel book while Julie took photos. Suddenly two more beers appeared and the server said they were from the couple over there (see over Julie's shoulder in the one image) - the same couple who invited us in.
I thanked them as I passed by to the comfort room and they invited us to join them. A few hours of storytelling ensued with our new friend Marius insisting that we pay him a visit in El Nido when we travel there. "Sleep on a mattress this thick on my balcony and we'll eat fresh fish and watch the stars" he said. Round after round passed through as we discussed scuba diving, tourist traps, engineering, rugby, seafood and Filipino cuisine. He introduced us to a "salad" called kinilaw, which is like a ceviche but larger chunks of raw Spanish mackerel in this case. It was quite tasty! He declared that his girlfriend made the best though, because she made it with coconut milk.
A couple of guys at the next table had a couple of pitchers on their table. Julie wondered what they were so our host asked them. Iced tea apparently. But the smaller one was the local Tanduay rum. Seems the way to drink it is to pour a shot of rum and chase it with the iced tea. (Julie had noted earlier in the day how iced tea is quite popular here.)  Naturally this repatriated Filipino (he moved back from Cali) who was cheerfully wearing his Giants champions T-shirt offered us all a sample. And naturally my Julie was the one in there making it happen! She hopped over to their table after learning that he also had contacts in El Nido whilst I discussed the finer details of Springbok and Allblack rugby.
We collected more contact numbers while sharing our new Filipino cell number and I'm sort of surprised that we outlasted the Cape Town lad, but he did have a 5am bus to catch in order to get his building supplies shipped.
Fortunately we are catching the 11am "Fort Wally" van so we can sleep this off.

Palawan sailing adventure (day 2 to 3) – Snake Island, Honda Bay

This blog is related to the following photo gallery: http://kalicinski.smugmug.com/Travel/Philippines-2012/Sailing-Palawan-day-2 The adventure took place November 22-25, 2012.

Our second day with Gener on the Tao Philippines jungle tour. (www.palawansailing.com)

Today we would finish floating down the Babuyan River and trade boats to start sailing out into Honda Bay.

This tour is typically 3d/2n but we paid for an additional night out in the bay, and we are oh-so-glad that we did because it provided us the chance to experience an island to ourselves.

As we pulled out from the mouth of the river, we could see the white caps on the sea, and admittedly we got a bit nervous about it. So we strapped everything down on to the cargo net of the modified bangka boat. It was a good thing that we did, because it wasn't long before a wave came crashing into the hull and swept right over us! Oh, my, gosh! The water is SO wonderful here! It is the perfect temperature and amazingly clear azure blue. Plus, a few minutes of sitting in that intense sun and both of us were impatiently waiting for another wave to come crashing aboard and cool us down. It was really fun! Unfortunately I didn't have the water camera ready so no pictures of it.

As we sailed along on our little boat, Gener mentioned that he wasn’t sure where we’d stay tonight, as it would depend who was at this one island and how friendly they were feeling. We didn’t sail for long (and we sort of wished that we did a loop around the island just to be on the boat some more) until we coasted in towards a long narrow beach. There was a man there in a bamboo shelter on the beach, and after a bit of conversation, Gener pulled down his sail and happily announced that we were staying here on Snake Island! (I had to ease Julie’s fears that the island was named because of its shape, not because of a plethora of snakes living on it.)

It didn’t take long for our presence to be noticed by other boats going by and one enterprising fellow hauled his catch of day to shore for us to view. He proudly hoisted up an eel writhing on the end of his spear gun, to which Gener asked us if we wanted to eat eel tonight. Sure, why not? When else does one get to have super fresh eel? A bag of mussels was also exchanged, and I think Julie was a bigger fan of that purchase than the eel.

Snake Island was once a very popular tourist spot, but it has been shut down to save its ecosystem. There’s a guard who keeps watch, and with that a large rain barrel that Gener said we could use to bathe ourselves. So we did that. And only when you take off all your clothes on a desolate island does somebody suddenly pop around the corner.

We took a sunset stroll down the long strip of sand, maybe making it half way before we got tired and turned around.  And then look at that sight!  Awe-inspiring, really.  I cannot adequately describe it, other than to say that we could not believe we were here in the Philippines, on a trip that’s turning out to be a lot different than just going to a resort.

Gener’s cooking has been fabulous on this trip, and we’re becoming big fans of the calamansi limes that are used in almost everything here. The calamansi-onion-garlic-soy sauce-tomato salsa is great as a universal sauce on seafood. Tonight we learned that with a dash of sprite and a shot of local rum, it’s a tasty mixer too! After a couple glasses of that, it was bedtime in our tent on the beach.

---

There’s something about camping, and that moment when you unzip the door and there lies before you a view like no other, with sun streaming down from a blue sky shining onto clear blue water, and you think to yourself that this is truly amazing. Today was one of those mornings.

To make it better, a pot of coffee on the fire and then we learn a new word – bananacue! Gener explains that there are many varieties of bananas and some are good for eating raw, while others are best eaten cooked. These ones, called “saba”, are best eaten as bananacue; deep fried, and sprinkled with sugar.

After breakfast we grabbed our snorkel gear from the boat and ventured off down the beach to see what we could see.  It did not take long to see something as Julie stuck her head underwater and immediately came back up waving and pointing and trying to yell through her snorkel. Something with a large head was poking out of a hole in the sand.  It didn’t look like an eel, but we sure weren’t about to test it. Further along we were pleasantly surprised by the abundance and colour of fishes swimming amongst the sea grass and corals.  Also saw a pipe fish, and a number of large starfish, plus a new thing called a feather star that wisped along in the water.

Before we knew it we were being called back to the camp for lunch. Today it was fresh squid marinated in olive oil with black pepper and salt, breaded and stir fried. Tasty…

We snorkelled a bit more in the afternoon before loading up the boat and sailing away from our little strip of sand.

Rural experience in HK - Lamma Island

11/19/2012
One of the goals of this trip to Hong Kong was to explore the further reaches of the territory. So today we got onto a ferry and went to Lamma Island, a small island about a 30min boat ride SW of HK. Cruising west out of Victoria Harbour it is interesting how the dense concrete jungle suddenly ends at a steep hill at the sea's edge and is replaced by thick green vegetation. You're reminded that you are in fact close to the tropics.
Leaving the rows upon rows of 40-storey apartment buildings behind, we pull into Yung Shue Wan that has just a smattering of 3-storey buildings.  Disembarking and walking along the quiet main street (you can actually hear birds chirping!) it feels as though we went from downtown Toronto to small-town Manitou. Except here there are large tanks of fish, abalone, scampi, clams and prawns at the side of the small street and there are no vehicles, aside from these neat little lawnmower engine-powered trucks.
Our purpose here is to do a walk from one end of the island to the other. Julie got the info from discoverhongkong.com and it said it would take about 4hrs. We got a little bit lost at first trying to get out of the village (having a GPS-enabled tablet is pretty handy!) but we found it, and armed with a waffle slathered in peanut butter and condensed milk, we wandered off down the sidewalk in the shade of the large trees.
Shortly a beach comes into view and with the sun trying to burn through the clouds, it's almost tempting to take a dip, but the sign that says "stay within shark net" makes one think twice. After the beach the path goes upwards out of the trees and into the drier grasslands. We stop for a snack at one of the half-dozen pavilions (rest shelters) that dot the route.
Coming down out of the hills a final pavilion offers a grand view of the bay and the village of Sok Kwu Wan. Walking through the village, seafood restaurants hawk their catch with the catch phrase that the ferry doesn't leave for over an hour - enough time for lunch! We take the bait (pardon the pun?) and sit down at a seaside place after the lady convinced us of her set menu lunch and julie bargained for some sweet'n'sour. HK$198 got us a plate of clams (slathered in a tasty spicy black bean sauce), shrimp, calamary [sic] and our first taste of abalone, served in the shell.  We actually had to get the server to get the meat out of the shell for us since we'd never done it before.  The sun came out and it was quite nice sitting there next to the boats bobbing in the water. Couldn't enjoy it for too long as we had to chug the final bites and dash to the ferry.

Lan Kwai Fong - we love this place!

5:20pm on Sunday, touchdown in HK!
We're getting to be pros at this now - I even remembered the bank machine at the airport that lets you withdraw a higher limit. And with our experience from last time with the airport-hotel shuttles, we easily sailed into the city (which was surprisingly dark already) gazing at the lights of the skyscrapers. Stepping out of the shuttle bus I immediately smell the familiar scent of the place - something like humid fried noodles, followed shortly by that sweet lemongrass scent that Holiday Inns in Asia manage to all smell like.
We're located in Sheung Wan and only a 10 minute walk to our favourite party place Lan Kwai, a concentrated block of restaurants and bars.  This weekend they were hosting their own version of Carnival.  The narrow streets were even more crowded with tourists and locals crammed in between small booths on the side of the street selling beers, sangria and rum punch, plus an assortment of food.  Suddenly we spotted a dense crowd blocking the street. Getting there all we could see was what we could view on people's camera/phone screens in front of us.  But then the drums started and feathers bobbed above the crowd and there we were - in the midst of a Carnival parade!
Guessing that they'd be coming round the block in a while, we ventured off the other way and got a nice big glass of sangria in time to see the parade come by.  Drums banging, whistles blowing! It was pretty fun!  For some reason, after the parade passed by, we became photo subjects - must be Julie's Latino looks?

We capped off the night with some tapas at a Spanish restaurant Boqueria high above the street. Amusingly they described their wines as "earthy, crisp, rich and elegant".  Since Julie couldn't decipher the wine descriptions and didn't want a sweet cocktail, she tried making her own from Campari.  Fail.  But my beer was good.  Oh, and they had bacon-wrapped dates. :-)

I love HK