Back to solid food!

Suds and I have been on an all liquid cleanse since Thursday. Apparently a good cleanse is the cure for all that ails you. I will spare you the gory details of what we went thru.

All we were able to eat was a drink made of distilled water, juice from half a lemon, some maple syrup and some cayenne pepper. Suds faired better than I....I spent a couple days in bed till the afternoon moaning and complaining. Anyone unfortunate enough to be in the same house as me when I am really sick can feel Sudsy's pain. Yeah, he basically lost all respect for me, especially since the whole cleanse was my idea!

We caved a day early (thank god!!) and this drink of freshly squeezed orange juice is our first thing of substance and/or taste in 6 days!! We were supposed to only drink OJ all day to ease our bodies into solid food, but screw that! For lunch we popped into a little Chinese lunch place and pointed to a plate of noodles from the illustrated menu. What bliss!
The good news is we both lost some weight, although we expect to gain half of it back, bummer. We are going to try to permanently change our diet now, eliminating dairy (except cheese,which is classified a necessity) and just over all try attempt to be healthier. Wish us luck!

Our first wedding anniversary

Suds and I just celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. We went out for dinner to Olive, one of my fav restaurants (we took Linda and Ron when they were here)
I had chicken baked in a mountain of bread (which I always order) and Suds had a rabbit baked pie (which he did not like, saying it was too bland)

Coming soon is our romantic spa day for two and a cruise around Victoria harbor to see the nightly light show.




Thank you for all the emails wishing us well:

Matthew& Kristi, Shannon & Darren, Tiffany, Linda & Ron, Kristen, Cathy & Pat, Larry and Judy ( a real card delivered snail mail!) Denise & Ben, Lila, Hilary and Whitney. Hope I didn't forget anyone!!

Chicken feet for dinner!

This is normal in the supermarkets here.

We haven't braved this and don't think we will.

mmmm! Chicken feet with peanuts!

IFC building and downtown

IFC 2

This building dominates the skyline, dwarfing everything else. This is the building that I saw immediately coming out from the MTR station when I moved here. I whispered to Suds is awe, "That is the tallest building I have ever seen" I felt like a total hick. Luckily for me, it is the 6th tallest building in world!


























IFC 1 (mini me)












We live in the middle of the ferry behind a couple buildings.









Wan Chai area and the Hong Kong Convention Centre on the left.

Cheung Chau Beach

On Sunday we caught the ferry to Cheung Chau. It took about 30 minutes from Central Pier.

The ferry waterfront is lined with shops and seafood restaurants. Suds bought a quicksilver hat for $6!! Good deal!





Fish tanks outside of a restaurant.
There are some wacky creatures in there! The tank in the far back that looks like it has two rocks in it? Those are huge shells with some sort of craw fish in it!





A temple













These racks are filled with shrimp that are drying in the sun.
















Not the greatest picture, but at least you can see the beach behind us.

The beach was nice; with fine sand , shark nets and visited by families mainly. The lifeguards go out into the water on rafts that they steer with poles (like gondoliers) An extra part of their job was scooping garbage out of the water.

It was SO hot this day I actually went into the water. We just swam past the floating plastic trash and the water was nice and warm.

Hurray for free rice!

Last night we were walking to Soho (the restaurant area) for dinner when I noticed all the people walking towards us we carrying small bags of rice. When I mentioned it to Suds he thought they were all just going home to cook dinner. But I knew something was up. More and more people walking towards us were carrying the same bag of rice! I said, "I think someone is giving away free rice!" Suds was skeptical. Wouldn't you know it, we come upon a little celebration in the street and I spot a couple of girls handing out rice!! They spot my eager eyes and offered us both a bag! Score!















Three little piggies!

Part of the celebration, I guess. I think it might be a called a Moon Festival. They were chopping the piggy faces up and handing it out. We gave it a pass.

Drivers License

I can't believe it!!
I just got my Hong Kong drivers license by simply filling out a form.
Even Canada wants me to take one more road test. And this license if good for 10 years!!!
Suckers!!!!

PS I feel a little clarification is needed. I have my NEW drivers license in BC which means I can drive by myself with my N proudly displayed but need one more road test until I am a real driver. Apparently Hong Kong doesn't know or care about the silly classifications that BC has. They DO require that I hold a drivers license in another country. And it is only in the first year of residence in Hong Kong that I can get my license without a road test. After a year I would be applying from scratch. I do not plan on actually driving here unless we move out to the 'burbs, but I wanted to get it now when it is easiest.

Tulameen Daze 2006

We had tons of fun this year with at least a dozen people camping out in tents behind the cabin. By day we were on the beach and the inflatable party dock (The Floatilla) and at night we were dancing/chilling around the campfire.



Kevin the dancing machine!! There was a campfire dance off between Kevin and Aris. Too funny



This was very late at night and only Kevin, Joel, Suds and I were still going. I wish I could remember what was going on at this point...Did Joel know his pants were falling off??









And who's sweater is Kevin wearing? :)












Tent city at the McPhail's . There are a couple more tents behind me as well!!








The 4 X 4-ers. I must admit I hate 4X4ing. I was all set to go anyways, but at the last minute Matt and Kristi arrived and saved me!! We stayed at the cabin while all these guys spent a few hours getting dusty. You should have seen the inside of the truck!! We had to get it detailed when we got back to the city, there was no way I was vacuuming it!


If you click on the picture you can see Cara and Kevin in the dunebuggy behind the truck.






They drove up to a mountain lake but only Suds was brave enough to go for dip.

Apparently there was snow here in July!!















Lakefront potluck on Sunday night.








What a view!! Down below, there is a beach, firepit, wharf and boat dock.

Back in Hong Kong

Ahhh it is good to be home!
We had a good flight back. We both scored full rows to lay out on thanks to a helpful check in gal so we slept 8 hours getting in. Too bad we arrived at 8PM so we were both wide awake before 3AM.

The flight was an hour delayed and combined with us being early to the airport because of long line up fears, we had about 4 hours to kill. Luckily Suds friend from Jazz Andrew was also chilln' at the airport. We met up at Milestones and chatted for a bit.

Increased security meant that we couldn't bring any liquids on the plane, but other than that it was fine.



Here is a pic of the new Toyota FJ Cruiser that we took for a test drive. It was cool. It is time for a new truck with a few more creature comforts like air con. This is an automatic so I can drive it when I come back for visits and Suds is looking forward to a smoother ride when 4X4-ing. I am stronlgy encouraging this purchase :)

Visiting Whistler

Suds, Hilary and I did a day trip up to Whistler in the beginning of July. There is a Whistler 2010 Olympic booth set up with information for visitors. Suds made us take this photo op. I felt like SUCH a tourist geek!!




For revenge I made Suds take this tourist photo!!


















This is a float plane (single Otter) on Green Lake. Suds chatted up the guy here and found out you can be taken up in a float plane and have a picnic on a glacier or lake!

Happy Birthday Abbey !!

Our niece Abbey just turned 2!!! We missed her birthday party because of Tulameen but popped over to see Abbey and Mom Suzi to drop off a gift.



Abbey is cuter than ever but not up to performing her cute tricks when we saw her because she was due for her nap.









Suzi only has a few more weeks till baby number 2 comes along!!

Tropical Cyclone hits Hong Kong

What bad luck!!!
Suds got a seat on the flight leaving Hong Kong for Vancouver Thursday afternoon. They were taxi-ing for take off when the winds really picked up and the flight was cancelled. And not just that flight, but all Cathay flights were cancelled until 9am the following day. Which means that a days worth of passengers will need to have their travel arrangements re-arranged. Suds is not optimistic about his chances of getting to Vancouver at all now. He will try for the next 2 days, but likely give up after that. So our trip to Tulameen Daze is in serious jeopardy, and we have SO been looking forward to it! I might end up just returning to Hong Kong if on Saturday Suds isn't able to get here. I am SO bummed!!

Misc. pictures from Vancouver

Here Shannon and I (Whitney just makes it in on the right hand side) celebrating Italy's World Cup win on Commercial Drive













ME, Whitney, and Darren with his blow dryer. He is so hair obsessed he never goes anywhere without it!!






Barbara, Jacob, Molly the dog and baby Otto early Saturday morning ready to watch some baseball.














2006 Slo-Pitch Champs!!!!

We will try not to be too offended that the year we finally won was the year Suds and I didn't play!







Shannon and I looking HOT!!